Latest news with #GérardDepardieu
LeMonde
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
French actress Anouk Grinberg: 'My soul was born with my son'
Known until now as an actress, at 62 Anouk Grinberg has become an advocate for women who have filed complaints against actor Gérard Depardieu. While many thought she was a privileged child from an artistic background, she reveals herself as a young girl damaged by a dysfunctional family, which left her vulnerable to predators. Respet ("Respect") is the title Grinberg chose to describe her youth and upbringing in her new book, as well as her rebirth. I would never have gotten here if... I could tell my story through everything that damaged me, or even killed off parts of myself, or, on the contrary, through what and who brought me back to life. But if I go all the way back, I believe I would not be who I am if I had not breathed in my mother's despair from birth. If I had not seen her, throughout my childhood and adolescence, attempt suicide so many times. That lack of light in my youth gave me a thirst for brightness and pushed me to become who I am today.
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The worst sports movie in history? I asked Sepp Blatter about Fifa's United Passions
There are movies that bomb at the box office. And then there is the Fifa biopic United Passions, starring Tim Roth, Sam Neill and Gérard Depardieu, which was hit with the cinematic equivalent of a thermonuclear strike when it opened in the US 10 years ago this week. You might remember the fallout; the fact it took only $918 (£678) in its opening weekend, making it the lowest grossing film in US history at the time, and the stories detailing how two people bought tickets to see it in Philadelphia, and only one in Phoenix, before it was pulled by distributors. Then there were the reviews. 'As cinema it is excrement,' Jordan Hoffman wrote in the Guardian. 'As proof of corporate insanity it is a valuable case study. United Passions is a disgrace.' Admittedly, there was never going to be a good time to launch 109 minutes of soft-sheen history and propaganda about Jules Rimet, João Havelange and Sepp Blatter. But when 14 Fifa members were indicted on corruption charges just days before the $26m (£19m) film's US release, the film became a byword for hubris and excess. Only in Russia, where it made £140,000 at the box office, did it muster any sort of audience. Although what they made of Neill's attempt at Havelenge's accent, which veered wildly between Brazil, New Zealand and Ireland, is anyone's guess. The 10-year anniversary seemed like the perfect time for me to grit my teeth and watch United Passions for the first time. I also hoped that those involved might have got over their collective embarrassment and would be prepared to talk about it. Was it really the worst sports movie in history? Worse than Rocky V? Or the Love Guru, which starred Mike Myers as a bearded Indian whose task, in the words of the Observer's then critic Philip French, 'is to counsel a black ice-hockey star whose wife has run off with a French Canadian goalkeeper known as 'Le Coq' for the prodigious size of his membrum virile'. Having watched it, I can say that United Passions really is right up there. The script feels like it was written by a 2015 version of ChatGPT that has been programmed to hate the English, who come across as universally pompous. The dodgy stuff in Fifa's history is danced around, or ignored. And some of it is so cringey it makes you gasp. At one point, for instance, Blatter expresses his fears over the 1978 World Cup in Argentina because the military government is murdering its opponents. 'Who cares,' Havelange replies. 'During the World Cup they only dream of one thing, that ball. Because football brings consolation to all tragedies and sorrows!' That is the same Havelange who took millions in bribes and kickbacks from Fifa's deals with the marketing company ISL. In fact, United Passions is so comically awful the Internet Movie Database gives it 2.1 out of 10, a ranking so dismal it would qualify for its worst 100 films of all time list if it had the 10,000 votes needed to qualify. When the film came out Roth, who plays Blatter, admitted: 'This is a role that will have my father turning in his grave,' before confessing he did it only to put his kids through college. You can fault his performance, but not his honesty. A decade on, however, few others want to revisit it. The publicist sent me a lovely email but didn't remember many specifics. An ex-Fifa employee jokingly referred to the film as a 'blockbuster' but had only vague memories of its genesis. Fifa, meanwhile, didn't want to comment. The only exception? Blatter himself. When I spoke to his official spokesperson, Thomas Renggli, he asked me to fire over a few questions. A day later, he came back with the replies. 'Obviously the movie was not a success,' Blatter, who turns 90 next year, told me. 'A movie about Fifa is always controversial, so for me it was not a surprise that the opinions were so different in Russia and in the US.' Blatter also insisted that the concept of United Passions had not come from him and, contrary to internet rumour, he had not tinkered with the script to make himself the hero. 'The idea came up after there was a small movie called Goal,' he said. 'And in this environment, the Fifa management brought up the idea of producing a big movie. It was definitely not only me behind it. And concerning my part in the production, I was only an adviser. I was not involved in the script.' Which is just as well, because it is bad. Really, really bad. A few minutes into the film, for instance, Rimet tries to get Football Association bigwigs to join Fifa while speaking to them at half-time during a game. 'Our boys are two goals down gentlemen!' Rimet is told. 'There are things much more important than life and death. There is football. And at half-time things are deadly serious!' Blatter also insisted he was OK with how the film turned out, but Renggli told me that there was befuddlement when it was shown to Fifa employees before its premiere at the Cannes film festival. 'We were all sitting there in this big auditorium and everybody was thinking, 'what do they want to tell us with this film?' To me it did not make sense at all.' There are some, of course, who think Fifa will be making another expensive mistake in the US this weekend when it launches its 32-team Club World Cup. The early signs are not positive, with tickets for the opening game between Lionel Messi's Inter Miami and Al Ahly going for $55 – 16% of the original asking price of $349. There are also concerns with player welfare, given the increase in the number of games and Blatter, who was recently cleared of fraud by a Swiss court, is not a fan of the tournament, or next year's expanded 48-team World Cup. 'Havelange once told me that I made a monster when I created this wedding between TV and football,' he told me. 'But now it's all too much. There are too many games. And too many teams in the tournaments. Sooner or later, we will have 128 teams, like in a tennis grand slam.' And whatever you think of Blatter, or indeed United Passions, it is hard to disagree too much with those sentiments.
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Gérard Depardieu faces Rome trial after alleged incident with paparazzo
Gérard Depardieu is facing a trial in Rome after allegedly punching a legendary paparazzo outside a bar in the Italian capital. The French actor, who earlier this month was found guilty by a Paris court of sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot in 2021, is charged with causing personal injury to Italian photographer Rino Barillari. The case is due to begin at the court of Rome on 17 June. Depardieu, 76, is accused of punching Barillari, known in Italy as 'the king of paparazzi' for his tenacity in capturing up-close shots of celebrities, outside Harry's Bar on Via Veneto, in May last year. Barillari, 80, went to the bar, a famous stomping ground for the glitterati and the photographers who trailed them during the 1960s dolce vita period, after receiving a tip-off that Depardieu was dining there. In an interview after the alleged incident, Barillari said Depardieu, who was eating outside Harry's Bar with a friend, Magda Vavrusova, became frustrated after he saw the paparazzo taking pictures of them. Barillari claimed that Vavrusova came towards him, followed by Depardieu, who allegedly punched the photographer three times, causing him to fall to the ground. Barillari was taken to hospital and treated for a wound close to his left eye. Barillari also alleged that Depardieu showed him the middle finger, threw an ice cube towards him and shouted an insult about Italians. Depardieu denied the claims, later telling La Repubblica that Barillari had pushed him. At the time, Delphine Meillet, a lawyer for Vavrusova, said her client had been 'violently pushed' by Barillari and that Depardieu 'fell and slid' on to the paparazzo after intervening. Meillet and Jérémie Assous, a lawyer for Depardieu, have been contacted for comment. In a career spanning more than six decades, Barillari has masqueraded as priests, gardeners and bricklayers in his quest to capture photos of the rich and famous, including Princess Margaret, Jackie Kennedy, the Beatles and Frank Sinatra. But he is also well-known for getting into altercations with his targets. 'I can forgive his punches, but not the insult against Italians,' Barillari told the Italian news agency, Adnkronos, on Tuesday.
Irish Times
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
After Gerard Depardieu and Gisèle Pelicot, is France ready to address sexual violence?
The backlash was immediate. Within seconds of her coronation as Miss France in late 2023, Eve Gilles was being hit by a tsunami of online hate. The death threats would come later. The online mob were appalled by the 20-year-old's slight physique and, especially, her cropped pixie haircut. For the first time in more than a century, the Miss France tiara had been placed upon the head of a contestant with short hair. 'Next year they'll pick a bald man,' moaned an outraged armchair warrior. French model Eve Gilles, who was pilloried for her short hair Gilles, a 20-year-old student, became an unlikely focal point for the country's raging culture wars. On one side, her win was sneeringly cast as a 'victory for diversity'; on the other she was held up as a rather unlikely icon of the #MeToo era, with her supporters suggesting that her win signalled that France was finally ready to embrace a movement that had hitherto struggled to gain momentum. The furore around Gilles was proof, if any were needed, that France still has work to do on gender equality. Relatively few high-profile cases of sexual misconduct have been prosecuted since the #MeToo movement arrived in France in 2017, despite the growing number of victims who have come forward with testimony of abuse. Activists are hoping that could finally be about to change, following the conviction last week of the formerly revered actor, Gérard Depardieu , for sexually assaulting two women. His trial was viewed as an important test of how French society and the film industry were addressing allegations of sexual violence. Lawyers for his victims believe that a wider reckoning is under way. READ MORE 'I'm optimistic by nature,' says Carine Durrieu Diebolt, who represented the 54-year-old set dresser who was targeted by Depardieu. 'This was a historic verdict. It shows that mentalities are slowly changing, that artists are no longer treated with impunity.' [ Gisèle Pelicot 'led this fight' for her grandchildren, as ex-husband sentenced to 20 years in mass rape trial Opens in new window ] But that optimism is not universally shared. Yéléna Mandengué, a lawyer and member of the #NousToutes feminist organisation, points out that Depardieu was not in court for the verdict as he's currently shooting another film in Portugal. 'In places like the US, an actor accused of such serious crimes, never mind one who has actually been convicted, would be cancelled. The rich and famous are treated differently here. We call it the French exception. It comes down to our elitist perception of the arts. We don't want our reputation to be tarnished internationally by these allegations, so perpetrators are protected' Gisèle Pelicot, whose husband was convicted of raping her while she was drugged and unconscious, and inviting dozens of men to the family home to abuse her. Photograph: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP via Getty Images The Depardieu sentencing came just months after France was horrified and traumatised by the trial of Dominique Pelicot, the retired electrician who was convicted of raping his former wife while she was drugged and unconscious, and inviting dozens of men to the family home to abuse her. Gisèle Pelicot 's ordeal highlighted shortcomings in French law, most notably the lack of explicit consent in the legal definition of rape, prompting calls for urgent reform. Last month, the lower house of parliament responded by passing legislation expanding the definition of rape to include non-consensual sex. The bill has yet to be debated by the senate, before being returned to the lower house for a final vote. While think tanks such as the London-based Bloomsbury Intelligence and Security Institute argue that the Pelicot case has had a profound impact on public understanding of sexual violence and domestic abuse, Mandengué believes that legal reforms can only go so far, and fail to address deeply entrenched cultural perceptions. She says attitudes will not truly evolve unless there is a wider political will to bring about change. 'The government only discusses sexual violence when it serves its political agenda,' she says. 'Look at our prime minister. In any other country, he would be forced to resign. Instead, he's defended by the president.' An embattled François Bayrou has been at the centre of a widening controversy over decades-long allegations of sexual and physical abuse at a school in his home region in southwestern France. The former education minister denied having covered up the abuse when he appeared before a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday, claiming that he had only been made aware of the allegations through the media. Bayrou's wife had worked at Notre-Dame de Bétharram and several of his children were educated there. One of his daughters now says she was beaten by a priest with links to the school. A survey published just last week found that 70 per cent of women said they had personally experienced sexism in the workplace A separate parliamentary report, published in April after a five-month inquiry, also makes for grim reading. It found that abuse was 'systemic, endemic and persistent' across the French entertainment industry, adding that attitudes were 'barely evolving' with women and children still being 'routinely preyed on'. Sandrine Rousseau, the Green Party MP who led the commission, says the Depardieu conviction is nevertheless an important milestone that illustrates that 'nobody is above the law'. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many women might disagree. A survey published just last week found that 70 per cent of women said they had personally experienced sexism in the workplace, with nearly a third of respondents saying they'd subsequently changed how they dressed as an avoidance strategy, or limited time spent alone with certain colleagues. Another woman who decided to alter how she dressed, or at least how she presented herself to her hundreds of millions of social media followers, took the stand in a Paris courtroom on Tuesday. Hours before Kim Kardashian gave emotional testimony about being held at gunpoint by a gang who stole millions of euro worth of her belongings, a judge asked her stylist if the reality TV star had put herself in danger by publishing images of herself online. Absolutely not, said Simone Harouche. 'Just because a woman wears jewellery, that doesn't make her a target. That's like saying that because a woman wears a short skirt, she deserves to be raped.' As for Miss France 2024, she says she still dreams of one day representing her country at Miss Universe despite the death threats, and the fact that she's once again being pilloried by online haters, this time for dating an older man.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NEWS OF THE WEEK: Gérard Depardieu Found Guilty in Sexual Assault Trial, Receives Suspended Sentence
Gérard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021 and has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, which will be suspended. The victims, Amélie, a set designer, and Sarah, an assistant director, accused Depardieu of groping them during the filming of Les Volets Verts in September 2021. The court found their testimonies consistent. Depardieu denied the allegations, but the court noted his varying testimonies, which contradicted the consistent evidence provided by both women throughout the trial.
