Judges at the Paris Criminal Court are expected to deliver their verdict on Tuesday in the sexual assault trial of the French cinema icon Gérard Depardieu.
If found guilty, prosecutors want an 18-month suspended prison sentence for the 76-year-old Frenchman who has starred in more than 200 films and TV series since emerging in Bertrand Blier's 1974 feature Les Valseuses.
During the hearing in March, a 54-year-old set dresser identified only as Amelie and Sarah, a 34-year-old assistant director, accused the actor of attacking them during the filming in 2021 of "Les Volets Verts" by director Jean Becker.
Depardieu denies the charges.
Amelie said that Depardieu had behaved like a wild animal on set. Depardieu had boasted he could give women an orgasm without touching them, she told the court. She also said Depardieu made obscene remarks and suggestions.
"I'm vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I'll accept that," Depardieu told the court. "I don't touch. I adore women and femininity," he added.
During the third day of the trial, Sarah and Depardieu recounted different versions of the incidents on the film set in September 2021.
Denial
Depardieu denied touching her but she told the court she recalled Depardieu's hand on her buttock.
"I may have brushed against her with my back in the corridor, but I didn't touch her," Depardieu said.
She told the court that Depardieu's entourage of dresser, make-up artist and bodyguard were absent when she was in charge of escorting him from the dressing room to the set.
"We left the dressing rooms, it was dark and at the end of the street, he put his hand on my buttock, he put it down quietly."
She said she was then assaulted twice: touched on the buttocks and the breasts. On the last two occasions, she told the court: "I said no!"
The court heard she initially kept these episodes to herself for fear of the consequences for her work, before telling her manager who contacted the film's production company to ask Depardieu to say sorry.
"He apologised quite angrily," she told the court adding that he then called her a rat and crazy and refused to work with her.
Throughout the trial, Depardieu was supported by his daughter, Roxane, his ex-partner, Karine Silla and actor Vincent Perez.
Film and theatre star Fanny Ardant also spoke up for the actor.
She told the court she had never seen Depardieu make an inappropriate gesture towards a woman.
"I am a woman myself, I have experienced things like that, I have slapped people," she told the hearing. "I know that you can say no to Gérard."
Ruling
As well as recommending the suspended sentence for Depardieu, lead prosecutor Laurent Guy said he should also be ordered to undergo psychological treatment and be added to France's sex offender registry.
Tuesday's ruling will coincide with the start of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. In 1990, Depardieu was bestowed with the festival's best actor prize for his towering performance in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's "Cyrano de Bergerac".
He went on to act in Peter Weir's Hollywood movie "Green Card" and featured in other international productions such as Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" in 1996 and Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" in 2012.
Depardieu is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement.
He has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women, but this is the first case to come to court.
He has also been indicted in another case following a rape complaint filed by actress Charlotte Arnould. He has denied the allegations.
