Support for Gérard Depardieu took a much more powerful turn this Monday, December 25, 2023. A column published in the columns of Figaro has in fact been signed by 56 artists in order to denounce the media relentlessness which has hovered over the 74-year-old actor for several weeks. Targeted by several complaints for rape and sexual assault, the actor saw his image even more tarnished after the broadcast, on December 7, 2023, of a new issue of the show Additional Investigation on France 2.
Gérard Depardieu is probably the greatest actor. The last sacred monster of cinema. We can no longer remain silent in the face of the lynching that fell upon him, in the face of the torrent of hatred that pours down on his person, without nuance, in the most complete amalgamation and in defiance of a presumption of innocence of which he would have benefited, like everyone else, if he were not the giant of cinema that he is” can we read in the columns of Figaro. Among the signatories, we find Carla Bruni, Victoria Abril, Gérard Darmon, Nathalie Baye, Benoît Poelvoorde, Carole Bouquet, Charlotte Rampling, Nadine Trintignant, Jacques Weber, Pierre Richard, Roberto Alagna, Yvan Attal, Arielle Dombasle, Emmanuelle Seigner, Dominique Besnehard , Boualem Sansal, or even Jacques Dutronc.
Enough to shock public opinion but also several personalities like Lucie Lucas, Sophie Marceau and more recently Isabelle Carré. In response to this petition, the actress published this Wednesday, December 27, 2023, in the columns of Elle magazine, a column in which she declared : “I was 11 years old and a man stopped me in the street, for information, I thought. To my great surprise, it involved touching and commenting on my budding breasts: ‘It’s growing, eh little girl, it’s growing!’ Stunned, I didn’t move, so he continued… I wasn’t looking for anything, I say this because it seems to be decisive for some, I wasn’t asking for anything, not even a role. Just growing up in peace.”
Shocked by the support given to Gérard Depardieu, she points out the fact that it was necessary “wait fifty years to tell an actor that his behavior with assistants, dressers, his partners is not acceptable”. And to conclude with regret: “Less than 10% (of female victims of sexual assault) file a complaint and less than 1% of rapes reported by adults have resulted in a conviction.”
ES