In The Last Subway, Truffau's film, and in what was one of his first important appearances, Bernard, Gérard Depardieu's character, talks to Marion (Catherine Deneuve): “You are so beautiful that looking at you is a pain,” he tells her. .
Marion: “Yesterday you said it was a joy.”
The definition: “It is a joy and a suffering.”
More than half a century later, the real Depardieu is going through the same ambivalence: accusations were piled up against him for his sexual rudeness.
But also, different French personalities came out to defend him, from President Macron to famous artists.
His defenders signed an open letter in Le Figaro, titled “Do not erase Depardieu” and among them were names such as Pierre Richard, Charlotte Rampling, Victoria Abril, Fanny Ardant and Carla Bruni.
Macron also appeared, contradicting his then Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, and pointing out that Depardieu is “a victim of a media lynching and moral lawsuits.”
The minister asked that the Legion of Honor be withdrawn from the artist, but the president pointed out that he “would never participate in manhunts.”
Depardieu was also not helped by his friendship with Putin, who a decade ago granted him a Russian passport.
Complaints and defense
In 2018, Depardieu was sued in court by actress Charlotte Arnould for rape, although the case was later filed.
A few months ago, a report from the Mediapart program presented the testimonies of twelve women, revealing the actor's alleged “sexual violence” during filming in the last decade (one of them, Heléne Darras, also took him to justice).
Another program on Antenne 2 broadcast videos about Depardieu's obscene comments on a trip to North Korea, but the footage itself and the layout leave doubts.
Spanish journalist Ruth Baza denounced him for “sexual assault.”
Depardieu, at 75 years old and with a career with memorable films and characters – Cyrano, Danton, Colón and many more – denied all accusations.
If Macron decided to keep the honors, in other places they proceeded differently: the Paris wax museum removed the figure of Depardieu, the government of Quebec (Canada) took away the medal of honor and the same thing happened in Belgium.
The manifesto in Le Figaro questions the accusations against Depardieu, highlighting that “he is a French national treasure, a sacred monster and the best actor in history.”
He considers the complaints to be “an attack on art.”
He states:
“No matter what happens, no one will ever be able to erase the indelible mark of his work, which left an indelible mark on our time.
The rest, all the rest, concerns justice, only justice.
To do without this great actor would be a tragedy, a defeat, the death of art.”
Pathetic
The Spanish director Isabel Coixet, in a recent newspaper column, described her frustrating personal experience with Depardieu, when they were summoned for a special Canal Plus program in Barcelona:
“
It made me sad to see that immense actor behaving like the pathetic and visibly drunk person I had had lunch with.
But someone who doesn't like paying taxes in their country or who is a friend of Putin or who drinks three bottles of wine in a row does not make them an abuser or a criminal.
And yet, when the first accusations against him surfaced, I can't say I was surprised.
The person who had been in front of him for three eternal hours was clearly someone who believed that everything was allowed to him, someone used to getting his way under any circumstances.
"Someone so entrenched in his own magnetism and in his aura that he seemed completely oblivious to any external argument."
“
Depardieu –
he concluded
– has the characteristics of predators.
He never abused established actresses.
His victims were always young actresses, aspiring writers, journalists, vulnerable women, without aura, without statues, without immunity, who were unlikely to be listened to or believed.
How are they going to be believed if even the president of France himself denies them
?
One of the episodes with the greatest impact was produced by the comedian Blanche Gardin during the Moliére Awards.
Confronting Depardieu's defenders, she asked: “Can the man be separated from the artist?
This indulgence that only artists benefit from is strange.
We don't say about the baker: 'yes, it's true, he has raped some children in his oven, but he makes great bread.'”
Complex
The truth is that Depardieu was involved in a change of era, as is happening in almost all countries.
Until then “permissive” attitudes and comments became the focus of the new feminist movements.
One issue is rudeness and another is abuse.
Many borders are blurred. “
We must stop confusing words with facts.
Rude, shameless, off-color, heavy at times, but not violent
,” says the defense letter, which his family members also sign.
The promoter of the manifesto was Yannis Ezziadi, a comedian who wrote in another column: “Depardieu became public enemy Number 1 when he was not convicted by any court.
The treatment given to Depardieu is totally disproportionate, dishonest and frankly disgusting.
But the problem is that no one dares to say it publicly.”
He described the situation as
“terror, the Inquisition.”
And he considers that the entire case – mainly the media complaints – is “a crime against the freedom to joke, even practical jokes.
Reporting sexual assault has become a tool of blackmail, threats, power and revenge.
But it is justice that will resolve.”