Gerard Depardieu to face trial in Paris over rape and sexual assault allegations

Actor Gerard Depardieu arrives at court with his lawyer Jeremie Assous (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

French film star Gerard Depardieu has been summoned to trial before a criminal court in Paris over allegations of rape and sexual assault against actress Charlotte Arnould.

“I feel relieved,” Ms Arnould wrote on Instagram on Tuesday after receiving the investigating judge’s indictment order.

“The order restores a form of judicial truth. I think I’m having trouble realising how huge this is.”

Actress Charlotte Arnould leaves Gerard Depardieu’s trial for alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021 (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

Ms Arnould’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, was not immediately available for comment.

She told Franceinfo media she was “extremely satisfied” and described the decision as a “moment of judicial truth in this case”.

The case dates back to 2018, when prosecutors in Paris opened a preliminary investigation after Ms Arnould accused Depardieu of raping her at his home.

“The acts of rape and sexual assault have been acknowledged,” Ms Arnould said. “Now, we await the next steps.”

Prosecutors submitted a request last year for the case to proceed to trial.

Depardieu was convicted earlier this year of sexually assaulting two women on a film set and received an 18-month suspended prison sentence in a case that was widely seen as a post-#MeToo test for the country’s film industry.

The 76-year-old Depardieu, one of the most prominent figures in French cinema for decades, was convicted of groping a 54-year-old woman responsible for decorating the set and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) in 2021.

The court ordered his name to be listed in the national sex offender database.

Depardieu’s long and storied career, which he told the court includes more than 250 films, has turned him into a French film giant.

He was nominated for an Oscar in 1991 for his performance as the swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac.

In recent years, the actor has been accused publicly or in formal complaints of misconduct by more than 20 women, but so far only the sexual assault case has proceeded to court.

Other cases were dropped because of a lack of evidence or an expired statute of limitations.