By his own recognition, Gérard Depardieu acts in a world that is no longer his own.
On day three of his sexual assault trial in Paris, the French cinema star admitted that he was given to “rude” and “vulgar” language no longer regarded as acceptable.
It got to the point a few years ago, he said, where he insisted no female assistants should come near him in his dressing-room, because they were too liable to be shocked.
“Knowing the vulgarity of the old world, today I try to avoid being listened to by the new world – so that I don’t come across as detestable,” he told the court.
“I am not very much at ease with this new society… I think my time is done.”
But he denies being a sexual abuser.
“I don’t see how it could be fun feeling up a woman, her buttocks, her breasts. I am not a metro-train groper,” he said.
Depardieu, 76, is accused of sexual assault on two women on a film-set in 2021. Both say he touched them on intimate parts of the body.
In court the actor repeated his defence: that he may have touched the women accidentally or to keep his balance, but that there was never any sexual intent.
If convicted, Depardieu could face five years in jail and a fine of up to €75,000 (£63,000; $81,000). The trial should continue until Thursday at least.
Since Monday the packed courtroom has been the scene of explosive exchanges between the two legal teams – with Depardieu’s lawyer Jérémie Assous conducting an aggressive defence aimed at undermining the credibility of the two plaintiffs.
But on Wednesday it was Depardieu who was subject to intense questioning, and at one point appeared to imply that a hand on a buttock did not constitute sexual assault.
“I never carried out an act of sexual assault [against a plaintiff]. Anyway sexual assault in my view is worse than what she has said,” he said under questioning from the plaintiff’s lawyer Carine Durrieu-Diebolt.
Smelling blood, the lawyer swooped: “You’re saying that sexual assault has to be more than a hand on the buttocks?”
Out of his seat shot Depardieu’s lawyer.
“No, that is not what my client said,” he said, accusing Ms Durrieu-Diebolt of “trying to create quotes that can be tweeted by the media.”
There is evidently no love lost between the two sides.
Mr Assous is seen by the plaintiffs’ team as deliberately setting out to bait them. He in turn believes that feminist “activists” have been at work on the plaintiffs, encouraging them to file charges that they might not otherwise have brought.
The events under discussion took place in Paris in September 2021 when Depardieu was making a film called Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) about an aging actor coming to terms with his declining powers.
It is the first time the actor has appeared in court on sexual assault charges. Several other women have made similar allegations in the media, and he has also been accused of rape, all of which he has denied.
The first plaintiff – a set decorator – told the court on Tuesday that after a minor argument with Depardieu he caught her between his legs, held her by the hips and told her obscenities.
The second plaintiff – an assistant director – said she had been assaulted by the actor on three occasions. On the first, she had been accompanying him from his dressing-room to the set when she felt his hand on her buttock.
Another time he touched her breasts through her clothes, and a third time the buttocks again. After she told her superior what had happened, Depardieu allegedly called her a “snitch” and refused to have her come near him.
For the defense, Mr Assous produced photographs taken at the end of the shoot showing Depardieu and the plaintiff apparently smiling happily together. She said she had wanted to play the incidents down, and that she was not even sure at the time if they had constituted a penal offence.
It was only two years later when she had seen media coverage of Depardieu’s alleged sexual misconduct in other cases that she had decided to lodge a complaint with police, she said.
She added the affair had left her in a state of anxious distress, and still today she was having difficulty sleeping.
The trial has offered a rare chance for the French public to see the once-revered actor – star of films like Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac – at close quarters.
He appeared in court dressed in black shirt and jacket, and leaning on the shoulder of his very large bodyguard.
The bodyguard – named as Massika – was referenced regularly in proceedings.
Depardieu said Massika’s permanent presence made it impossible for him to have carried out the sexual attacks of which he is accused.
The actor is himself very overweight, and told the court he had difficulty walking more than a short distance.
“My joints all hurt. Basically my body is bust,” he said.
In the courtroom he sits on a special box that Massika brought with him.
It is white, and covered in kiss-marks and signatures from people who have given Depardieu support.
