What does Gérard Depardieu's belief mean to France

Yesterday, the French star was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women. This is a verdict that could have a significant impact on the country's film industry.

If it is written into a movie script, it cannot be more obvious. The world's most famous film festival is the Cannes Film Festival, which began with one of France's largest film stars ever, Gérard Depardieu, who was convicted of sexually assaulting two women in the 2021 film The Green Shutters, who described him to groping them when he used obscene language. A French news website shouted: “The movie giant is no longer untouchable,” another news website said, “that the beginning of the iconic music festival, which I am currently reporting.

Depardieu, 76, is a veteran of about 200 movies and TV shows. He has been known in France since the late 1960s, and he won international house hits in films such as Jean de Florette in 1986. He became a global name thanks to the Oscar-best French film production, Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) and the Hollywood Romcom Green Card of the same year. Yesterday, DePardieu was sentenced to an 18-month sentence, fined €29,000 (£24,430) and added to the French register of sex offenders, but his lawyer said he would appeal the sentence.

According to author Agnès CPoirier, about 20 women have made charges of past misconduct by Depardieu, but this is the first person to be tried and the significance of the judgment cannot be exaggerated. “When the monument falls, it is always powerful and symbolic.”

She added that his reputation was “deeply damaged”, but “the French film industry sentenced him to three years of films long ago. His career has been completed. He is still one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, although we may feel different now when we watch movies.”

Depardieu's lifespan has been more than the Cannes Film Festival. He won the Best Actor Award for Cyrano de Bergerac here and launched it on his Oscar journey and played a role behind the scenes. Its director Thierry Frémaux admits that the highly speculated football film of the 2014 United Passions starring De Pardieu premiered at the Cannes Film Festival due to the pressure of the actors. He recently participated in “Love Movie Valley” with Isabelle Huppert at the Festival in 2015 (a simulated kiss on Photocall).

Not surprisingly, Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche also starred opposite Depardieu, who was asked to think about the importance of his conviction at yesterday's open press conference.

She told reporters: “He is no longer sacred.

Eve Jackson, French News Channel 24 culture editor, told the BBC that Depardieu is “respected as one of the sons of the Cannes Film Festival.

Last year’s festival, the upcoming trial of DePardieu is expected to be filled with French own #MeToo movement, where female filmmakers use the most public platform of international cinemas to display films related to sexual abuse.

Actress Judith Godrèche recently premiered a short film called Moi Aussi (“Me Too Too Too”) on the publication of allegations of sexual assault by two filmmakers Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, with hundreds of people standing quietly among victims of sexual abuse on the streets of Paris. Last July, Jacquot and Doillon both accepted police interviews related to the allegations they denied.

This year, seven movies in the main competition are composed of female directors. One of them, the sound of German writer director Mascha Schilinski's fallen exploring a generational abuse girl telling the story of a family. But it remains to be seen how many movies will address the topic of abuse during this festival.

Jackson said that besides the movie, there was a shock wave in France due to some high-profile cases. The chief was in December when Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men were convicted of rape, attempting to rape and sexually assault Pelicot's 72-year-old wife Gisèle Pelicot. In February, director Christophe Ruggia was convicted of sexually assaulting portraits of a woman, Adèle Haenel, when she was a child. Haenel publicly resigned from the film industry in 2023, accusing her of “universal complacency” with sexual predators. Benoît Jacquot has been accused of raping two actors, whom he denied.

“There's a big change in the French film industry, and you can feel it at the Cannes Film Festival,” Jackson said. “And I think the fall of DePardieu does represent this earthquake change in France, which may be later than Hollywood and the rest of the world, but here now. Young actors are increasingly calling out misconduct, and people like Ruggia are sentenced to four years in prison (two of which were sentenced to his name) and their names are not internationally. The idea of ​​power play on the set of films from actors and directors is no longer acceptable.”

But there is still some way to go. Last month, a French parliamentary report led by French MP Sandrine Rousseau found that abuse across the French entertainment industry was “popular” despite the #MeToo movement, with little development in attitudes. The detailed report has 86 suggestions on change, including greater protection for child actors and the use of intimate coordinators as a standard for cinema sex scenes and theaters (as of December 2023, only four of them reportedly worked across France, compared to 100 in the U.S. entertainment industry).

Depardieu also has some high-profile defenders. President Macron said in 2024 that the actor “makes France proud.” Seventy-six-year-old actor Fanny Ardant is one of his most determined supporters – yesterday there was no judgment in the verdict shooting a movie with her in the Azores – she supported him in court with his Cyrano de Bergerac co-star Vincent Pererez. French film star Brigitte Bardot from the 1950s and 1960s also publicly defended him.

But Jackson pointed to the reaction to the incident during the Depardieu trial, which she said is important for social transformation. She said that when DePardieu's attorney Jérémie accused the actor of two female victims in a court case, a 54-year-old suit dresser and 34-year-old “Hysteria” was “Liars”, for “Liars” and for “a fanatical feminist cause), it was condemned.

“I think Depardieu is increasingly seen as looking at different times, so is his lawyer,” she said. “They are called sexist, they speak to the plaintiffs, calling them feminists as if it was a bad thing. This exacerbated his troubles because the judge summoned it out and imposed additional fines (due to the matter). It highlights the representatives that took place in France. His supporters are supporters of the elderly.

A few days before DePardieu's belief, the 90-year-old Bardot publicly called the actor a “genius” for French TV and was commissioned to “the talented person who touched the bottom of a girl to the deepest dungeon”. But young people see this attitude as an old one, and they don't understand his reputation as a great actor, Jackson said.

“For people around 50 and 60, DePardieu evokes memories of being great actors of a certain era, but I don't know how many young people are interested in this story,” she said.