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Cannes Court's verdict hangs over film festival
The Guardian
|May 14, 2025
Gérard Depardieu was the ghost in the wings at the opening of the Cannes film festival, after a court found him guilty of sexual assault.
The Oscar-winning actor Juliette Binoche had barely begun her duties as Cannes jury president when she was asked to pass judgment on Depardieu and the wider culture of misogyny and sexual violence within the French film industry. "Interesting timing," she said of the verdict.
Depardieu denied allegations he had sexually assaulted two women - a 54-year-old set dresser known only as Amelie and an unnamed 34-year-old assistant director - during production of the 2021 French drama The Green Shutters (Les Volets Verts).
But the judge Thierry Donard ruled that the actor's explanation of events was "unconvincing" before sentencing him to an 18-month suspended jail term. Depardieu's legal team said it would appeal the verdict.
This story is from the May 14, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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