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 entrust 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 Grinberg in an interview with AFP.

The 60-year-old actress shared the film’s poster with Gérard Depardieu The green shuttersafter which two crew members accused the actor of sexual assault.

On Tuesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that an investigation had been opened after the complaint of a 53-year-old decorator, the third investigation in France targeting the actor.

According to the decorator’s account to the investigative site Mediapart, Gérard Depardieu would have made numerous gravelly remarks during filming in Paris, on September 10, 2021, then later would have “grabbed her with brutality” and would have “kneaded her waist, stomach, going up to her breasts.” The reported attack was allegedly interrupted by the actor’s bodyguards, according to her.

Anouk Grinberg denounces the “cowardice” of the director of Green shuttersJean Becker, who accused her of “detestable” comments about the behavior of Gérard Depardieu.

“He knew very well that two women had been seriously attacked. 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 criticizes.

” 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 Grinberg 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 Grinberg 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 Grinberg, 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”.

Asked about the silence of renowned actresses like Catherine Deneuve or Isabelle Huppert who filmed with him, Anouk Grinberg 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 Grinberg, 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”.