Gérard Depardieu to Stand Trial on Rape Charges

A French investigative judge has ordered veteran actor Gerard Depardieu to stand trial for an alleged 2018 rape and sexual assault of actress Charlotte Arnould.

Arnould alleges that Depardieu, a friend of her father’s, raped her on two separate occasions in the summer of 2018 when she had visited his Parisian home to ask for advice. Arnould was 22 years old at the time. The Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac actor was 69.

France‘s biggest film star facing a trial over rape and sexual assault allegations comes as the nation’s film industry grapples with its #MeToo moment. As part of an earlier trial and conviction, Depardieu was given a 18-month suspended prison sentence after two women accused the French acting legend of assaulting them on the set of French film The Green Shutters in 2021.

The new trial over a complaint by Arnould will take place in a French criminal court, which has jurisdiction over serious crimes  punishable by five years or more of imprisonment if a conviction is reached. “Seven years later, seven years of horror and hell, I think I’m having trouble realizing how huge this is. I’m relieved,” Arnould said on Instagram.

Arnould first filed the complaint against Depardeiu in 2018. She then brought criminal charges in 2020, alleging Depardieu twice raped and assaulted her at his Paris home in August 2018.

Depardieu denies the allegations, but lost an appeal for the French criminal court to drop the case. That opened the way for a Parisian investigating judge to indict Depardieu for rape and sexual assault, while releasing him without judicial supervision.

A French judge has now ordered Depardieu to trial. Depardieu denies all wrongdoing in these and the many other sexual assault accusations brought against him in recent years.