Depardieu sentence is proof France learned nothing from Gisèle Pelicot

Gisèle Pelicot ought to have changed everything. After a trial that saw 50 men, including her husband, convicted of raping the 72-year-old while she was unconscious, it would be impossible for things to remain the same. Sex crimes would have to be taken more seriously by the French courts.

In waiving her anonymity, Madame Pelicot had forced the country to look into its darkest corners and confront horribly outdated attitudes to misogyny and sexual violence. It could no longer be ignored.

That was in December. Today, 76-year-old Gérard Depardieu was given a lowly 18-month suspended sentence for sexually assaulting two women on a Paris movie set, in 2021. The actor wasn’t even in court for the verdict, and has apparently been in Portugal working on a new film.

A fall from grace? Sacré bleu. Am I the only one who thinks this is meagre progress as far as the French MeToo movement is concerned?

That Depardieu has been found guilty is certainly a vindication of the brave women who came forward to accuse him, including the 20-plus who never made it to trial thanks to a lack of evidence or the statute of limitations. (An allegation of rape by actress Charlotte Arnould is still making its way through the legal system.)

One of his victims, who cannot be named, has said that she is “very moved” by the judge’s decision, which was “a real victory and a great step forward”. I’m glad, so glad, she feels that way. But I also can’t help but feel disappointed that women are supposed to be grateful for such limited justice.

This is a man who attacked a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant director, trapping them between his thighs, grabbing their buttocks, crotches and chests and using obscene language. In one case, he had to be pulled off by others. One told the court she had been left “petrified”.

Where is the sentence that would send a message to others who feel they can harm women with impunity? Are we supposed to feel grateful that Depardieu – who is estimated to be worth around $250m – was fined £24,414 and will be placed on the sex offenders register? How meaningless that feels in the face of a man who thanked the prosecution and defence teams for showing him how the court system works and joked: “These lessons may be an inspiration for me one day, if I get to play a lawyer.” Presumably he already has enough “inspiration” should he ever get to play a sex offender.

Anyone who imagined the Pelicot case had shot down the tropes that still exist around sexual assault in France ought to think again. Depardieu’s lawyer employed every sexist stereotype under the sun, calling his victims “liars” and “hysterical”, as well as saying they were working for the cause of “rabid feminism”.

Reporting of the trial was little better, with headlines glorifying the “French movie legend”. Film director Fanny Ardant defended Depardieu using extraordinary language, saying that “genius … carries with it an element of the extravagant, the untamed, the dangerous”. (Last time I checked, climbing Everest was the definition of dangerous, not working on a film set.) Brigitte Bardot criticised how “talented people who touch the buttocks of a girl are consigned to the deepest dungeon” – or, you know, are free to continue their careers, while their victims have to live with the great personal cost of having come forward in the first place.

Even President Macron had to backtrack after implying on a chat show that Depardieu was the victim of a “manhunt” and had “made France proud”. Yes, a man who, during his trial, claimed that he didn’t even know what sexual assault was. So proud.

Were we naive following the Pelicot trial? After all, six of her rapists walked free having already served the duration of their sentence or received a suspension, and the French legal definition of rape – predicted to change in the wake of her ordeal – still doesn’t include any mention of consent. Excuses are still being made for talented men because, naturellement, rapists look like “monsters” and not Hollywood stars.

Deep cultural change can’t happen overnight – and needs to happen in Britain, too, where just 2.6 per cent of rape cases result in a charge or summons. But that Depardieu has been handed such a flippant sentence – which he will, of course, be appealing – says so much about power structures and what kind of change really matters.

Or as Madame Pelicot put it: “It’s time that the macho, patriarchal society that trivialises rape changes.” Anything else really would be dangerous.