Anouk Grinberg | “When a producer hires Depardieu, he knows he is hiring an aggressor”

(Paris) Anouk Grinberg, one of the French actresses who decided to break “the silence” around sexual violence in the 7^e art, believes that the producers “know that they are hiring an aggressor” when they decide to give a role to Gérard Depardieu.

“When film producers hire Depardieu on a film, they know they are hiring an aggressor. Not a potential aggressor: an aggressor,” accuses Anouk Grimberg in an interview with AFP.

The 60-year-old actress shared the bill with Gérard Depardieu in the film The green shutters (2022), after which two members of the team accused the actor of sexual assault, and she denounces the “cowardice” of its director Jean Becker.

“Becker dares to say in the newspapers that my comments are scandalous and that obviously if Depardieu had acted badly, he would have spoken to him about it between men. Let’s go ! He knew very well that two women had been seriously assaulted. It is to cover their cowardice, their inability to protect women that (Jean Becker and the producers of the film) accuse me (of lying),” she denounces.

” On The green shutters, there was, it seems, a lady (referent) dedicated to (preventing) attacks,” continues the actress. “She never supported women who were attacked. She never intervened when we heard about pussy, pussy, cock, getting sucked. »

Anouk Grimberg also supports actress Charlotte Arnould, whose accusations in 2018 resulted in the actor being indicted for rape since 2020, and calls on other actresses to speak out.

“On certain films with Depardieu, we told the team before filming: “if there is the slightest problem, you keep quiet. If you speak out, you’re fired.” It’s effective. […]. People are afraid for their apple, afraid of losing their jobs, and afraid of not being believed. »

“Stink”

Referring to a French public television program broadcast in December Additional Investigationin which we see the actor multiplying misogynistic insults and remarks of a sexual nature, Anouk Grimberg assures that this type of language was the daily lot on the set of the film.

“What people saw in Further investigation (on Depardieu), it’s pretty much soft compared to what I saw on the Green shuttersand I’m not the only one, we’ve all seen it, we’ve all heard it […]. From morning to evening, we were entitled to his salacious things,” she says.

According to Anouk Grimberg, who has known Gérard Depardieu for a long time, his behavior has gotten worse for years. “I always heard him make sexual, serious remarks, but yes it got very, very seriously worse, with the permission of the profession which pays him for that, and which covers up his crimes,” she says.

Asked about the silence of renowned actresses like Catherine Deneuve or Isabelle Huppert who filmed with Gérard Depardieu, Anouk Grimberg deplores being one of the few to denounce this sexual violence. “It’s a matter of self-awareness and empathy. It’s their business. But of course I would like a lot more women to speak out, because a lot of women know. »

Anouk Grimberg, who admits to having been herself at one time “complicit” in these attacks, explains having had “very important encounters which reveal oneself to oneself”. “Six years ago I met Charlotte Arnould, who at that time was very, very alone, completely devastated by what she had just suffered,” she says.

She herself has suffered this type of attack, but believes that things are starting to change, although very slowly. “Of course I had to endure attacks and I was trained to consider them normal, not only to be able to function in the profession, but quite simply to be able to function in life,” she says. “When you are a woman, you have understood that being attacked is part of life. This is what is changing. »

“It doesn’t change like that (but) listening has started to happen, it’s already good.” As for those “who are in denial, (they) participate in this stench”.