The China Mail - Depardieu sues French broadcaster over report that sped up downfall

Depardieu, whose prolific film and television career includes 1990 comedy "Green Card" and Netflix series "Marseille", is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement.

The 76-year-old cinema icon has been convicted of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021, and is to stand trial charged with raping an actress decades his junior in 2018.

Overall, around 20 women have accused Depardieu of improper behaviour, but several cases have been dropped due to the statute of limitations. He has consistently denied all charges.

Thursday's court case focuses on a dispute between Depardieu and a television show that in December 2023 aired a report that dented his public image and led a minister to say his behaviour shamed France.

The episode, titled "The Fall of the Ogre", included footage of him repeatedly making sexual comments about women during a trip to North Korea in 2018.

In one section, he appears to make an obscene comment about a young girl riding a horse.

Lawyers for Depardieu and French writer Yann Moix, who was with him at the time, have argued the editing of the footage made it look like he was speaking about a child, whereas he was instead speaking about an adult.

They add that the footage was filmed as part of a fiction movie they were shooting together in the Asian country.

Neither Depardieu nor Moix were present as the court opened its session on Thursday morning.

The lawyer for France Televisions said the broadcaster rejected any "tampering and any illicit editing".

"There is no doubt and no ambiguity that it is indeed the young girl in the image who is targeted by Gerard Depardieu's remarks," the broadcaster has said.

In a rare move, France Televisions asked an expert to authenticate the contentious scene.

Separately, an expert report in the context of the rape investigation against Depardieu, seen by AFP, found him to have made "sexually suggestive remarks... directed at a little girl riding a pony".

The judiciary has ordered another expert assessment to determine exactly all steps taken in editing the video footage.

The documentary, which also included actor Charlotte Arnould accusing Depardieu of raping her when she was 22 and anorexic, was a blow to the actor.

Then culture minister Rima Abdul-Malak said Depardieu's behaviour "shames France".

But President Emmanuel Macron shocked feminists by complaining of a "manhunt" targeting Depardieu, whom he called a "towering actor" who "makes France proud".

R.Yeung--ThChM