“We want to destroy a man in the public square when he has not yet been judged”, according to actress Marion Lahmer

A column, signed by around fifty artists, defends the French actor accused of sexual assault and rape.

“The images we show do not make him a rapist”declared to France Culture on Tuesday December 26, Marion Lahmer, 31-year-old actress, signatory of the petition in support of Gérard Depardieu in Le Figaro. “I find that we are attacking art, freedom. We want to destroy a man in the public square when he has not yet been judged. All this belongs to justice and absolutely not to this kind of outpouring of hatred, of judgments without knowing”continues the actress.

Marion Lahmer is one of the youngest of the 50 personalities from the world of culture who signed this column. It is defined as “feminist” and assures that he does not know Gérard Depardieu personally, but wants “defend art”not endorsing this “media lynching”. She explains that she is not against the Metoo movement and says she is aware that her position “goes against the grain of thought, of what they want us to think. Among the young actors, there are many who are against him, but there are also some who support him”.

A “pack that starts barking at this man”

Marion Lahmer explains having seen the “Additional Investigation” on Gérard Depardieu, which she found “very burdensome and reductive” towards the actor. She says she understands “completely” that the words “rude, ribald, unwelcome” held by the actor in the report can “chock”. However, she explains that she finds that “disturbing” duty “the pack which begins to bark against this man and against these images put together to guide a thought and an opinion about this man”.

The family, then Emmanuel Macron, had suggested that a sequence from “Complement d’investigation” in which the actor makes obscene remarks towards a little girl could have been modified during editing. Friday, the France Télévisions group assured that this passage had been “authenticated” by a bailiff.

The actress adds that she wants to defend this “huge actor who represents above all freedom and the French language, this profession of actor and art more broadly”, “which we want to reduce”, according to her. For Marion Lahmer, Gérard Depardieu is “the greatest living French actor” and he “contributed enormously to cinema, theater and a whole generation of actors”.

Aware that Gérard Depardieu is also indicted for rape and sexual assault, Marion Lahmer ensures that “these complainants must be heard and listened to”just as it is “Very important”according to her, “that the work of justice can be done while respecting the presumption of innocence”.