When Gérard Depardieu was growing up in the nondescript French town of Châteauroux he made money by trafficking in cigarettes and whisky with GIs on the local American army base. “He was a criminal,” said Alain Depardieu, the actor’s older brother, in a recent television interview. “But he was intelligent. He knew where to draw the line.”
Now commentators are wondering whether the same can be said about the figure who is perhaps France’s greatest contemporary actor and certainly its most controversial. This week it emerged that Gérard Depardieu had been placed under official investigation on suspicion of raping and sexually assaulting a 22-year-old actress.
The woman, now aged 24, claims that she was attacked twice after going to his €50 million house in Paris
