A support platform which caused a scandal, two camps which insulted each other, the specter of politics: the Depardieu affair fractured French cinema. Carole Bouquet, Nadine Trintignant, Gérard Darmon… On Friday, personalities who had signed a column calling for “not to erase” Gérard Depardieu published on Christmas Day in Le Figaro, expressed their discomfort.
“I signed,” said the first Carole Bouquet on Instagram. “However, I do not support the ideas and values associated with the journalist carrying this column. Giving him visibility through Gérard makes me, as you can imagine, deeply uncomfortable.”
In question, an almost unknown actor, editorialist for the ultraconservative magazine Talker and close to Julie Depardieu, the daughter of the actor, Yannis Ezziadi, who initiated the text. The man, described in an investigation by World as “close to identity and reactionary spheres”, was not available to react on Friday.
“We can no longer remain silent in the face of the lynching that has befallen (Depardieu) in defiance of a presumption of innocence from which he would have benefited, like everyone else, if he were not the giant of cinema that he is,” the text affirmed. Among those who signed it, the filmmaker Bertrand Blier, the actresses Nathalie Baye, Arielle Dombasle and Charlotte Rampling, the actors Jacques Weber and Pierre Richard…
” Naive “
And many for whom the genesis of this forum left a bitter taste. Notably the director Nadine Trintignant, whose daughter Marie was killed by the singer Bertrand Cantat in 2003. She told the Point not having known who had written it: “I ask the people I have shocked not to blame me for my serious error.”
“I assume,” says producer and ex-agent Dominique Besnehard: “I support the presumption of innocence of Gérard and of any individual. And I blame myself for having been naive.” Former boss of the Cinémathèque française, Serge Toubiana also claims not to have known who was at the origin of the text. “I signed because I hate pack spirit and the presumption of innocence must be defended.”
The text “is not perfect”, he admits a posteriori, because it gives the impression “that because he (Depardieu) is a huge actor, that could put him above the law”. But “this does not free him, no more but no less than anyone else”. “It has been said that the signatories are old, bedridden! It’s true, I experienced sexual liberation in May 1968. I love freedom and I have the feeling that the new generation has other criteria of judgment and evaluation,” he analyzes. “I respect that but I remain inflexible on the issue that only justice can deliver justice.”
The actor Gérard Darmon, on RTL, for his part regretted the content of the signed text. “Be careful not to say that by touching Depardieu, we are touching art. (…) It’s bullshit,” he admitted. Just like Yvan Attal, who admitted “discomfort”. “I did not sign (…) against women”, he clarified to BFMTV, but Depardieu “has the right not to be lynched publicly (…) we must let justice speak”.
“Predator”
Having fallen from his pedestal after the broadcast of images in which he multiplies misogynistic remarks, the 75-year-old actor, targeted by three complaints for sexual assault or rape which he refutes, has not finished dividing. Among those who spoke out, Anouk Grinberg and Sophie Marceau, who denounced her “predatory” behavior in 2015 and returned to the subject in Paris Match. Isabelle Carré called in Elle to say that “it is high time that (sexism) ends”.
Clotilde Hesme or Judith Chemla are among more than 600 signatories of a “counter-tribune” of artists published by the collective Cerveaux unavailable. Charlotte Arnould, who filed a complaint against Depardieu, leading to his indictment in 2020 for rape and sexual assault, maintains discretion. The young actress just thanked her supporters on Instagram: “I blame the blows (…) it’s not in great shape”. And responded to the discomfort expressed by Carole Bouquet after signing the petition: “You had to think about it before, right? ! »