By JOHN LEICESTER and BARBARA SURK (Associated Press)
PARIS (AP) — French actor Gérard Depardieu faces one other criticism of sexual assault, this time from a film decorator who alleges he groped her throughout filming in 2021.
In the criticism to the Paris prosecutor’s workplace, the 53-year-old decorator alleges that Depardieu grabbed her and kneaded her waist, abdomen and breasts throughout filming for “Les Volets verts,” or “The Green Shutters,” lawyer Carine Durrieu Diebolt mentioned Monday. Other folks intervened to cease him, the lawyer added.
Two legal professionals for the 75-year-old Depardieu didn’t instantly reply to emailed requests for remark, and their places of work mentioned they weren’t out there to speak by cellphone.
The newest accusations got here after French actor Judith Godrèche known as on France’s movie trade to “face the truth” on sexual violence and bodily abuse throughout a dwell broadcast Friday of the Cesar Awards ceremony, France’s model of the Oscars.
Godrèche, who just lately accused two movie administrators of rape and sexual abuse when she was a teen, condemned French cinema for its silence over abuses within the trade.
“We can decide that men accused of rape no longer rule the (French) cinema,” Godrèche mentioned to a hushed viewers. “Let’s not embody heroines on screen only to find ourselves hiding in the woods in real life.”
Depardieu has additionally been accused by greater than a dozen different ladies of harassing, groping or sexually assaulting them. He was handed preliminary rape and sexual assault fees in 2020 following allegations from actor Charlotte Arnould.
Depardieu denies wrongdoing. In an open letter in October, he mentioned: “I have never, ever abused a woman.”
Durrieu Diebolt mentioned that the assertion was traumatic for her consumer and led her to file go well with towards him.
Depardieu was lengthy seen as a nationwide icon in France. He has been a worldwide ambassador for French movie and loved worldwide fame with a number of roles in Hollywood.
Despite the allegations towards him, his fame has received Depardieu phrases of reward from the very best echelons of the French authorities.
“He makes France proud,” President Emmanuel Macron mentioned in an interview with TV channel France 5 that was broadcast Dec. 20, days after a documentary aired on French tv by which 16 ladies accused Depardieu of harassing, groping or sexually assaulting them.
In January, Macron tried to stroll again his remarks in Depardieu’s protection, saying that he ought to have talked about his unequivocal assist for victims of abuse.
“I haven’t said enough how important it is for women who are victims of abuse to speak out, and how crucial this fight is to me,” Macron mentioned, whereas standing by his protection of Depardieu’s presumed innocence.
French cultural minister Rachida Dati on Friday criticized the nation’s cinema for “collectively turning a blind eye for decades” to sexual violence.
“This should be the beginning of profound soul-searching for French cinema,” Dati mentioned in an interview with a on-line journal, The French Film. “There is no impunity in the name of art.”
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Surk reported from Nice, France.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”