“A predator”: Sophie Marceau has denounced Depardieu’s physical and sexual violence for years

Tongues now seem to be loose regarding Gérard Depardieu’s sexist and sexual violence. But when the end of this silence was still far from being achieved, the actress Sophie Marceau had already denounced the domination, the humiliations, the physical and sexual violence to which the actor had subjected her in 1985 on the set of Police by Maurizio Pialat.

Slapping on the camera and sexual contact when it was off

A rising star revealed The party at 14, Sophie Marceau was barely an adult, when Gérard Depardieu was “the sacred monster” of the French cinema we know. Her complaints take on a new resonance today in the face of Depardieu’s 2020 accusation for rape and multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault. As reported NeonSophie Marceau had explained World :

“It was a moment when the director and the lead actor could get away with it, without anyone saying anything […] behavior considered unacceptable elsewhere. »

She recalled multiple acts of humiliation and domination, notably when Gérard Depardieu ate parsley snails before a close-up scene with Sophie Marceau, simply to inflict bad breath on her. The actress also reported physical violence. For this film in which a young woman (Sophie Marceau) falls in love with a violent and misogynistic policeman (Gérard Depardieu), the actor and director agreed that policeman would slap the suspect, without simulating, in an interrogation scene. During the shots, Sophie Marceau finished in tears.

To this sexist violence was added sexual violence: Sophie Marceau reported that between one take and another, Gérard Depardieu would have touched her under the sheets, gestures not required by the script and invisible to the camera. “He never dared touch me in front of the team, otherwise they would have punched him in the face. » We remind you that these comments resonate with other testimonies, in particular those of the women present on the set of Fabien Onteniente, who denounce sexist and sexual violence committed when the camera was not on.

Sophie Marceau was treated like a “big bitch” instead of being listened to

As remembered Neon, Sophie Marceau denounced these actions since the film’s releaseBut “nobody listened to her”. Maurice Pialat had claimed that the actress was one “big bitch” but also “the most hateful person who[il a] met since then[il a fait] the cinema “.

The insults suffered by Sophie Marceau, Depardieu’s silence and impunity facing his testimony is emblematic rape culture. Currently the actor is accused of rape since 2020, after a complaint from the actress Charlotte Arnold. Since then, two more complaints have been filed against him, while last May thirteen women intervened Mediapart to denounce the behavior of the actor, who continues to openly deny it.