We don’t want to know it, we want to see it! I thought of Yvon Deschamps’ famous saying when I noticed the reaction to the viral images of Gérard Depardieu on social networks, taken from the show Further investigationbroadcast Thursday on the France 2 channel.
In the episode entitled “Gérard Depardieu: The Fall of the Ogre”, the giant of French cinema constantly talks about the “pussies”, “mussels” and “clits” of the “big sluts” who surround him, even of ‘a little girl of about 10 years old. He also speaks to his interpreter, a woman, about the “beam in his underwear”, his “dick” which, supposedly, alone weighs two kilos when erect. He growls, mimes sexual acts, says he would like to be a horse that welcomes multiple riders.
Gérard Depardieu knows he was filmed, in 2018, during the filming of a never-broadcast documentary by the writer, director and ex-controversist of the show We are not in bed Yann Moix in North Korea. And he thinks it’s funny. Many French people, clearly, find it less funny these days.
Since Thursday, many have distanced themselves from “Gégé”. Filmmakers, producers, actors who, ironically, had mostly remained silent when Depardieu was indicted for rape, in 2020, following the complaint of actress Charlotte Arnould.
Nor were they heard last April, when Mediapart revealed that 13 women had accused Depardieu of having harassed, touched or sexually assaulted them. One of the few to have defended Charlotte Arnould three years ago is Anouk Grinberg, who played alongside Depardieu notably in thank you life of his ex-companion, the filmmaker Bertrand Blier, close to the actor since The waltzers.
“It didn’t surprise me because he’s like that all the time. He did not wait to be in Korea to be so vulgar, so rude, so aggressive with women,” Anouk Grinberg declared Monday on France Inter. “He’s like that because everyone allows him to be like that,” says the actress, who we recently saw in The night of the 12th And The innocent. She condemns the French cinema sector, “indifferent to the harm that is done to women”. Everyone knew “the scoundrel” that Gérard Depardieu was on the film sets, she recalls.
He would put his hand into the pants of actresses, makeup artists or assistants as he pleased, who did not dare say anything for fear of losing their job, says Anouk Grinberg. Actress Sarah Brooks accused Depardieu last May of having done exactly that on the set of the series Marseille. When she protested, he allegedly replied: “I thought you wanted to succeed [dans le cinéma]. » In short, in France, we are still dealing with “couch promotion” and celebrity rights.
According to Further investigation, there are now 16 women who accuse Gérard Depardieu of sexual misconduct. This is most likely just the tip of the iceberg.
How many lives and careers shattered? How many women suffered Depardieu’s humiliation or touching in silence? How many others did not feel supported when they dared to denounce their famous attacker?
A lot, obviously. Tongues are being loosened thanks to a young generation of women who no longer accept silence. And because in front of the images from France 2, we no longer have the choice to believe that Depardieu’s sexist behavior is not just banal vulgarity. “I’m a great hunter, I always go to see what doesn’t want to be seen, to show itself,” he says to his interpreter, who prefers to be discreet. She fell badly, he was told. Indeed.
How many other Gérard Depardieu are there in French cinema? How many other sexual predators of whom almost everyone, with the exception of the victims, accommodates as best they can, excusing not only their inappropriate comments, but also their attacks? “Gégé, it’s Gégé!” We can’t change it,” they all seem to say in unison. We know the song. This is the refrain of collective hypocrisy in the face of sexual violence suffered (especially) by women. And that’s without taking into account Depardieu’s unwavering allies, who prefer to overwhelm the alleged victims by saying that they are in need of the spotlight and seek by all means to make people talk about them.
Around a hundred women, including Catherine Deneuve – close to Depardieu, with whom she made around ten films – signed a letter in January 2018 defending “the freedom to annoy” men who “have had no sole fault than having touched a knee, tried to steal a kiss, talked about “intimate” things at a professional dinner or sent messages with sexual connotations to a woman for whom the attraction was not reciprocal. . Talk about France’s years of delay in matters of sexual consent…
At the time, even the #metoo movement and its French counterpart #balancetonporc did not get the better of Depardieu, who continued to tour as usual.
While Harvey Weinstein was falling in Hollywood, the French king of pigs was not tossed aside. No doubt because too many people who turned a blind eye to his behavior, who let him do it or who minimized his actions, knew that they themselves were not without reproach. Guilty by association of indulgence, complacency, negligence.
Several others preferred not to believe that Gérard Depardieu was the abject character described by the young women who denounced him. Because he is a standard bearer of French cinema, one of the images we have of it abroad. That of the young first of Last metro of Truffaut, Rodin and Cyrano. Today, there are other images that eclipse those of cinema.
What is unfortunate is that these indisputable images are needed for many to finally understand the character and the damage he may have caused. So that Gérard’s collapse is inevitable. As it took images of Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd for the #BlackLivesMatter movement to find indisputable roots. We are all affected by this same illness of the times. A bunch of Thomases who don’t believe the victims in the absence of irrefutable video evidence. We don’t want to know it, we want to see it…