Veteran actor Fanny Ardant told a Paris court on Wednesday that she could vouch for the behaviour of fellow French film legend Gérard Depardieu
"I have never witnessed anything that I would have found shocking," said the 76-year-old of Depardieu who has been accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist abuse.
"I'm a woman myself, I've been through things like that. I've been slapped and insulted. I know you can say no to Gérard."
Ardant and Depardieu first met on the set of the 1979 film Les Chiens. Two years later, they starred in the François Truffaut feature The Woman Next Door. And they have been the big names in a range of films and plays over the following decades.
Ardant was among the stars in the Jean Becker film Les volets verts where Depardieu is alleged to have assaulted two women.
"I know that society has changed," Ardant added. "And that the points of reference are no longer the same. There are things that used to be tolerated that are no longer tolerable.
"I know that many people didn't dare come to Gérard's defence because they were afraid, afraid of losing their job, afraid of no longer being able to act or work as a director.
"If I didn't come to the defence of my friend, I'd blame myself for the rest of my life for my cowardice."
Versions
During the third day of the trial, a woman named as Sarah, and Depardieu recounted different versions of the incidents on the set in September 2021.
Depardieu denied touching the 34-year-old assistant director. 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 told the court.
During the second day of the hearing, Depardieu, 76, denied sexually assaulting a 54-year-old woman on the film set.
On Wednesday, the court heard that Depardieu's entourage of dresser, make-up artist and bodyguard were absent when Sarah was in charge of escorting the star 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.
The hearing continues.
