Caroline Séquin wrote that Gerard Depardieu's prominent position in France only amplified the controversy of no less than 20 women about her sexual assault charges. Eric Fougere/Corbis/Getty Images Editor's Note: Caroline Séquin is an assistant professor of history at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, who mainly studies gender, race, sex and immigration in modern France and the French Empire. She is the author of the forthcoming book Desire for Whiteness: Ethnic History of Prostitution in France and Colonial Senegal, 1848-1950. She follows her on X (formerly Twitter) @carolinevsequin. The opinions expressed in this comment are her own. Read more on CNN. CNN — There is no greater French film star than Gérard Depardieu. In his country and my country, he is not only a great man in French culture. In the eyes of many people, he is simply a national treasure.
Depardieu, 75, has appeared in more than 200 films since he debuted at the age of 17 in 1965. In 1996, he won the highest honor in France-the Legion of Honor, which was awarded to him by then President Jacques Chirac. However, Depardieu's lofty status in France only aggravated the controversy that no less than 20 women accused Depardieu of committing a series of sexual crimes decades ago, including rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.
The charges against Depardieu have been going on for many years. With the rise of the #MeToo movement, the accuser stood out in 2018. In 2020, after another alleged victim came forward to accuse Depardieu of rape, a formal investigation was launched, and the results of the investigation have yet to be announced.
Last week, the French film legend was formally charged with two criminal charges for sexual assault during the filming of Les Volets verts in September 2021. The trial date is set for October.
Since then, more allegations of sexual misconduct have been made. According to a survey conducted by the French independent newspaper Mediapart in April 2023, 13 women accused Depardieu of rape and sexual assault in various films made between 2004 and 2022. In July, France 2, a public TV channel, broadcast a documentary "Depardieu: The Fall of an Ogre", which showed that the actor made obscene comments on women and even made obvious sexual comments on a 10-year-old girl.
Depardieu, for his part, denied the allegations of sexual misconduct. In a letter published in le figaro, a conservative newspaper, in October 2023, he wrote that he had never hurt any women and would never hurt them. "Hurting a woman is like kicking my mother in the stomach," he wrote.
In the United States, outstanding men accused of sexual misconduct often suffer professional blows, and sometimes lose-at least temporarily-positions of power and influence, although some people will make a career comeback. It is encouraging that sometimes their positions are replaced by women.
With a few exceptions, this is not the case in France. Women often find that standing up and making accusations will still cost their careers. They are sometimes regarded as untrustworthy, or as holding a grudge-holding the goal of knocking down powerful men.
On February 18, 2018, French actor Gerard Depardieu took photos for the second season of the French TV show Marseille in Marseille, southern France, which was broadcast and co-produced by Netflix, an American streaming video giant. French actor Gérard Depardieu will face trial for sexual assault charges. As far as Depardieu is concerned, decades of accusations have hurt his career, which is not entirely obvious-at least not yet. Depardieu has not been "cancelled", but continues to work in the film industry. Since he was first formally charged in 2018, he has appeared in more than ten films and three mini-plays.
Despite decades of innuendo and notoriety, he still won a lot of public support from some leading figures in film and politics, the most famous of which is French President Emmanuel Macron, who has so far resisted the call to deprive Depardieu of the Legion of Honor.
"I admire Gérard Depardieu very much; He is a great actor … an artistic genius. He made France famous in the world. As president and citizen, I want to say that he made France proud, "Macron said in a TV interview in December.
In the same month, dozens of famous French public figures published an open letter in le figaro, expressing their unconditional support for Depardieu and condemning what they called the public "lynching" of the actor. Signatories include actress and model carla bruni, the wife of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Americans trying to understand that movie mogul harvey weinstein's conviction was overturned last month may ask themselves about the durability of the progress made during the #MeToo movement, in which women's voices accusing sexual abuse in the workplace gained new credibility. At the same time, in France, the efforts to oppose Depardieu's prosecution have disappointed many women, who hope to make greater progress on the issue of sexual violence through #MeToo.
Anne Hathaway plays "Solana" and Nicholas Galitzine plays "Hayes Campbell", starring in articles related to "bosom friend": Anne Hathaway-sober, sexy, no longer pleasing others. Critics of the #MeToo movement seem to worry that French women will use the media as a platform to spread false accusations of sexual violence against men in order to gain public attention and damage the reputation or career of these men. But the reality is completely different, and the victims face doubts, online rebound and harassment. As the famous French journalist Sandra Muller said, "In France, when a woman says it, she will be considered a liar or maybe hysterical." Sometimes they even worry about their own safety.
Anxiety about false accusations is greatly exaggerated because false accusations are extremely rare. This is also because most men accused of sexual misconduct will move on with their lives-so will Depardieu, who continues to perform on the big screen despite the endless accusations around him.
Other criticisms of the #MeToo movement show that it is a typical French thing and may be lost. In 2018, Le Monde published an open letter signed by 100 outstanding women, including French actress catherine deneuve, denouncing the emerging #MeToo movement and defending men's "disturbing freedom"-men have the right to take the initiative to strike up a conversation and make unwelcome compliments.
These public figures actually belittle those who demand that women be respected and not abused, and support men's right to continue to make unpopular progress. The letter reads: "Persistent or clumsy flirting is not a crime, and courtship is not chauvinistic aggression."
On Monday, February 24th, 2020, harvey weinstein arrived in Manhattan court to be examined by a jury on his rape case. The Supreme Court of New York overturned harvey weinstein's rape in 2020 and ordered a new trial. (Associated Press photo/Seth Winige, file) Seth Winige/Associated Press related article Viewpoint: The reversal of harvey weinstein case is not the end of sexual crime prosecution. However, this does not mean that the #MeToo movement has no influence in France. For example, it irreversibly changed the way the French media responded to sexual violence against women. In the past few years, French news reports have made great progress in personal politicization, and more and more investigations and reports have been made on allegations of sexual violence, to an extent unimaginable ten years ago. Therefore, victims of sexual violence often say that they don't feel as isolated as before.
Depardieu has not been tried yet, so it is uncertain whether he will be convicted of the crime he is accused of. He does look guilty, at least in terms of abusing women. He is accused of committing crimes against women. Powerful people in the United States have much less time to be removed.
France may not have gone far enough to listen to the voices of female survivors of sexual assault, but this does not mean that the #MeToo movement has no influence. It irreversibly changed the way the media responded to sexual violence against women.
Another positive influence of #MeToo in France is that the number of complaints about rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment reported to the police has greatly increased. In her 2023 book "Repairing France: How to Repair the Broken Republic", Nabila Ramdani used the data released by the French Ministry of the Interior to assert that 75,800 complaints were filed in 2021, an increase of 33% over the previous year.
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Perhaps the critics of the #MeToo movement are justified to some extent. Thousands of men accused of sexual violence are not monsters as some people in the media and public life claim. On the contrary, these people are manifestations of our own abnormal cultural structure. They are our politicians, professors, doctors, actors, writers, TV hosts, professional chefs and athletes.
They are also our fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins and nephews, which was a taboo topic in the past. With the dominance of #MeToo in France, this topic was influenced by the publication of Camille Kouchner's book La Familia Grande on incest in 2020 and the virus # metoinceste(# metoincestt) on social media. All of them-colleagues, neighbors or blood relatives-usually defend their status and professional privileges despite allegations of sexual violence.
It is not clear whether Gérard Depardieu will eventually be "cancelled", even if he is found guilty of sexual violence in one or two trials. However, until our laws fully punish the perpetrators of sexual violence, as always, too many victims will be hurt by the widespread rape culture, and too many criminals from all walks of life will continue to get away with it.