France, never a country known to surrender, is standing up for fallen movie star Gérard Depardieu after he was accused of multiple sexual assaults, and one rape last year. 50+ entertainment personalities from France, including luminaries such as Carla Bruni and Charlotte Rampling, all signed an open letter stating they, “cannot remain silent in the face of the backlash against him,” even though they 100%, absolutely can.
As reported by Deadline, the letter comes directly in the wake of France 2’s broadcast of Complément d’Enquête on December 7, which delved into the history of accusations against the actor. This official state report was based off reporting from April by Médiapart, which detailed 13 accusations against Depardieu, and another two accusations from French radio station France Inter from this past Summer. That is in addition to Charlotte Arnould’s accusation of rape from 2018, which is still pending a court date. And in fact, the Complément d’Enquête report revealed that actress Hélène Darras lodged a complaint against Depardieu in September, stretching back to the set of 2007 comedy Disco.
The show also revealed that Depardieu was inappropriate to a female interpreter during a trip to North Korea, and Spanish journalist Ruth Baza also filed a complaint related to an interview with Depardieu in 1995, when she was 23 years old.
Despite multiple accusations of rape and assault, it seems these entertainers could not keep their bouche fermée, and simply had to speak up on behalf of the disgraced Depardieu.
The letter, which was published in Le Figaro newspaper on Christmas Day, was translated as follows:
“We are artists, writers and cinema producers. It’s in this capacity that we’re expressing ourselves here.
“We don’t want to enter into debate, and we leave the judiciary to do its job. Gérard Depardieu is probably one the greatest actors. One of the last sacred icons of cinema. We cannot remain silent in the face of the backlash against him, the torrent of hatred which is poured on him without nuance, with the greatest conflation and scorn for the presumption of innocence, that he would have benefited from had he not been the giant of cinema that he is.
“When one goes after Gérard Depardieu in this way, it’s art that is under attack. Through his genius as an actor Gérard Depardieu has participated in the artistic influence of our country. He contributes to the history of art, in the highest way. He is part of this history and continues to enrich it. France owes him a lot for that. Cinema and theatre cannot pass over his unique personality.”
Just my humble two cents as someone who is not a giant of French cinema: when someone’s “unique personality” leads to multiple accusations of rape and assault, you are fully welcome, and in fact encouraged, to pass that person over. Not only that, you can kick them to the curb and let the long arc of history sort them out.
Whether Depardieu being accused of rape, assault, and inappropriate behavior is accurate, or 65 years of varyingly documented incidents with eerily similar details that were all somehow in error, if 50 people are signing a letter: A) you are entering the debate, and B) you are not letting the judiciary do its job.
And frankly, beyond that, this constant push against so-called “cancel culture” is, in a word, insane. A legacy is not decided while the person is still alive, though we as a society certainly try to turn inward with retrospectives and awards. It’s figured out much later after all the cultural detritus washes away. If people 50 years from now decide that Depardieu’s oeuvre has merit, even if the man himself is confirmed a criminal, great. If he’s cleared of all charges and society dismisses him anyway, his legacy is for the future to decide. By signing a letter like this, not only are you muddying the eventual court results and dismissing and trivializing the brave statements of at least 17 different women, you’re tarnishing your own legacy.
I’ll even take it one step further as a fan of Gerard Depardieu from back in the day (no idea why, but I was obsessed with his 1989 Cyrano de Bergerac). Once I learned that he had a long history of rape — look up the incident of how he admitted to having participated in multiple rapes when he was 9-years-old on, then only much later retracted the statement and insisted it was a mistranslation — I stopped watching his movies. It’s that easy! Or to use internet parlance, you do not, under any circumstances, have to “give it to him.”
If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.