“I weigh 124 kg. But when erect, I’m 126! » says Gérard Depardieu, his eyes fixed on his translator, embarrassed. This sequence is part of the rushes of a long documentary, never broadcast, that the writer Yann Moix shot in 2018 during their trip to Pyongyang for the 70th anniversary of North Korea, of which the actor was one of the guests of honor.
A week after the much-discussed issue on Cyril Hanouna, “Additional investigation” focuses this Thursday evening, at 11 p.m., on the ogre of French cinema, today accused of rape, which he contests.
Overwhelming words
The France 2 magazine opens with this Korean expedition, the damning images of which have until now remained secret. And for good reason, Gérard Depardieu continues the obscenities without filter: “Her little mold must be very bushy, very hairy. She already smells like a mare,” he whispers again to his translator. Shy, she whispers to him that she “doesn’t like” his remarks very much.
But, sitting on the wheelchair that he uses for his long trips, Depardieu multiplies the damning remarks. Of the 18 hours of rush recorded during these six days of filming, the “Complementary investigation” teams noted “at least one serious remark per woman they encountered. » Depardieu can no longer deny his penchant for insanity.
Public service journalists toured the cinema industry. To hear the many testimonies collected, the actor also talks about sex every five minutes on the sets. And few people reframe it. More seriously, the interpreter of “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Valseuses” would have slipped his hand into the shorts and into the panties of the young actress Sarah Brooks, seen on the Netflix series “Marseille”, who testifies here.
A complaint from Hélène Darras for sexual assault
In 2007, on the set of the comedy “Disco” by Fabien Onteniente, he allegedly sexually assaulted his partner Hélène Darras. “He pulls me closer to him by the waist, runs his hands over my hips, over my buttocks. He told me bluntly: Do you want to come up to my dressing room? I tell him no, but that doesn’t change the fact that between takes, he will continue to grope me. I’m petrified. In fact, he is the king on the set,” recalls the young woman, who was then 26 years old.
At the beginning of September, Hélène Darras filed a complaint for sexual assault against Gérard Depardieu. Remained secret until now, this new complaint revealed by France 2 is added to that for rape and sexual assault filed in 2020 by Charlotte Arnould. This young actress returns in detail for France 2 to the facts that Depardieu denies. The actor was indicted in this case. Both are among the fifteen women who testified to inappropriate behavior in “Mediapart” last April.
In this edifying portrait, “Complément d’investigation” clearly shows the embarrassment of the French cinema world. In front of the camera, his friend the director Josée Dayan judges “IM-PO-SSI-BLE” that Depardieu had committed such acts. His ex-wife and mother of his two children, Élisabeth Depardieu, said, for her part, “not to believe for a second” in these accusations, made by “a girl who did not have the role she wanted”.
“The cinema was not unaware of Depardieu’s problematic behavior”
But, at the Cannes Film Festival, celebrities turn their heels when they hear the actor’s name. His former agent Jean-Louis Livi comes to defend him in the red armchairs sequence, which we were not able to see before its broadcast on the air this Thursday evening.
Only producer Marc Missonnier recognizes collective responsibility. “French cinema was not unaware of the problematic behavior of Gérard Depardieu,” declares the one who believes that Depardieu was protected by his star image. And his status as the best actor of his generation. After the France 2 magazine, his image will be damaged for good.