A sequence, broadcast in the magazine “Complément d’investigation” on December 7 devoted to Gérard Depardieu, sparked controversy. Commissioned by France Télévisions, a bailiff was able to view the rushes and attests, in his report, that they are one and the same sequence showing Gérard Depardieu watching an equestrian demonstration in North Korea.
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“There are sometimes outbursts over comments made, I am wary of the context, I understood that there were controversies (…) over the words which were out of step with the images.” This is how Emmanuel Macron notably commented on an extract from “Complément d’investigation” on Gérard Depardieu, at the center of attention since the broadcast of the program on December 7 on France 2. We see and we he hears the actor make obscene remarks towards a little girl in a stud farm, in North Korea, in 2018. A child of around ten years old whom he calls “fifille”. In this documentary, the actor makes many inappropriate and degrading remarks about women.
By addressing these “controversies” around this sequence, Emmanuel Macron makes particular reference to a forum from the actor’s family in The Sunday Journal, published on December 17. His relatives, including his daughter Julie Depardieu, affirm that “Further investigation” “creates a real staging, proceeding with cutaways which we know are necessarily suspect since we can edit them as we want”. According to Julie Depardieu and her family, Gérard Depardieu “calls everyone ‘fifille’: women, men, animals. Was the objective to make Gérard Depardieu look like a pedophile?”, they write. And to quote Yann Moix, who accompanied Gérard Depardieu to North Korea, according to which “this montage is fraudulent” because “these words did not refer to a little girl”.
Several cameras were filming in the stud farm
Upon returning from this trip, the director and writer made a documentary, which was never sold or broadcast. In an interview with TV Magazinepublished Thursday December 21, Yann Moix indeed claims to be “99% sure that Gérard made these comments about a rider who was not the little girl. Gérard is incapable of making comments like that about a child”. A version already relayed Tuesday December 19 by a columnist from Cyril Hanouna on the set of “TPMP”.
Faced with these allegations, a bailiff, commissioner of justice and hearing officer at the Council of State and the Court of Cassation, commissioned by France Télévisions, established an observation after viewing the images from the filming in Korea used in this extract. These rushes come in particular from two cameras positioned in the stud farm. In these images, we can see a third camera: it is a camcorder held by a participant in the trip. He appears alongside the movie star.
“Usually, we do not show our rushes to anyone, not even to the courts, because this concerns the secrecy of the sources. But in this context of avalanche of fake news including theprogram ‘Complément d’investigation’ is a victim, we decided to exceptionally show them to a bailiff to attest to the rigor of our work”confides Tristan Waleckx, the presenter of the show.
The first camera of the film crew mainly films Gérard Depardieu in close-up as well as the people present on the ride, the second records the images of the riders in wide-shot. These different camera angles allow us to attest that it is indeed when the little girl passes by on her pony that Gérard Depardieu makes obscene remarks. In his report, the bailiff notes that all the contested remarks were indeed made in the stud farm at that time and, above all, he indicates: “During this sequence, I notice that with the exception of the young girl, only male-looking riders enter the front of the cameras.”
Gérard Depardieu makes obscene remarks when the child passes him twice. During a first ride performed by the very young rider, the actor exclaims: “Oh that’s good ma’am. If she ever gallops, she cums”he slips to his neighbor who is holding the camcorder before adding: “If he makes her gallop, she gets wet, she comes.” The bailiff concludes his report by noting: “On camera 2, we see the young girl on a horse guided by a man. (…) Mr. DEPARDIEU says ‘That’s my girl, go on. You see, she’s scratching there.’ (…) Monsieur DEPARDIEU says ‘Oh, that’s good’. The young girl turns her head to the right. Monsieur DEPARDIEU pronounces a guttural onomatopoeia.”
“A false controversy to avoid talking about the rest”
According to Damien Fleurette, director of the documentary Gérard Depardieu, the fall of the ogre, “This is the only time in 18 hours of rushes where we noted that the word ‘girl’ was uttered. There is no ambiguity about the fact that he is sexualizing this little girl.”
According to Anthony Dufour, producer at Hikari, the press agency that owns the images filmed in North Korea, Yann Moix had “makes it disappear” the little girl from his film project. “He made a choice during editing to protect Gérard Depardieuhe explains. The film editor, who was also present during the trip, remembers perfectly that Yann Moix found the scene too trashy. He didn’t want to make plans with the little girl. She doesn’t exist at all in his documentary.”
“What’s terrible is that we’re going to try to create a false controversy to avoid talking about the restcontinues Anthony Dufour. We’re talking about three seconds of excerpt to distract attention.” “There are countless equally serious and shocking problematic passages in our documentary”notes the director, emphasizing that it is “it is difficult for the women who testify in this investigation to hear that the honesty of the work carried out is being called into question.”
No ambiguity, according to France Télévisions
In a press release, France Télévisions specifies: “The ‘Complément d’investigation’ report on Gérard Depardieu was carried out with the greatest respect for ethical rules (…) and there is no doubt and no ambiguity about the fact that it is indeed the young girl with the image which is targeted by the words of Gérard Depardieu.”
Gérard Depardieu has been indicted since 2020 for rape, after a complaint from actress Charlotte Arnould. Two other complaints have since been filed, one by the actress Hélène Darras, for acts of sexual assault dating back to 2007, the other by the Spanish journalist and writer Ruth Baza for acts of rape dating back to 1995. The actor denies these accusations.