French actor Gérard Depardieu, long regarded as a towering figure in global cinema, has been ordered by an investigating judge to stand trial on charges of raping and sexually assaulting fellow actor Charlotte Arnould in 2018, legal sources confirmed Tuesday.
The decision comes just months after a Paris court handed the 76-year-old an 18-month suspended sentence in May for sexually assaulting two women during the filming of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) in 2021. That conviction, coupled with a growing number of allegations, has severely tarnished the reputation of a performer who has dominated French cinema for more than half a century.
Arnould, who was 22 at the time of the alleged assaults, accused Depardieu of raping her twice in August 2018 at his Paris home. She described the period following the incidents as “seven years of horror and hell,” but welcomed the judge’s order. “I think I’m having trouble realising how huge this is. I’m relieved,” she told reporters.
Her lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, called the decision a “form of judicial truth” for her client as the case proceeds to trial. Arnould had initially filed a complaint in 2018, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. She later refiled as a civil party, leading to the opening of a judicial investigation in 2020.
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Depardieu has consistently denied wrongdoing. In a 2023 letter published in Le Figaro, he insisted his relationship with Arnould was consensual, writing: “Never, ever, have I abused a woman. There was never any coercion, violence, or protest between us.”
Arnould, who later went public with her accusations, has said she was vulnerable at the time, weighing only 37 kilograms due to anorexia.
Depardieu, who has appeared in more than 200 films and television productions, is the most prominent French actor implicated in the country’s reckoning with the #MeToo movement. More than a dozen women have accused him of sexual abuse or misconduct.
The trial date has yet to be set. If convicted, Depardieu faces the possibility of a prison sentence and further restrictions on his career.