French actor Gerard Depardieu arrived at a Paris court for his trial on charges of sexually assaulting two women during filming of a movie in 2021. His lawyer said he would prove all the accusations were "false", AFP reports.

Depardieu, 76, who has starred in more than 200 films and TV series, has been accused of indecent behaviour by about 20 women, but this is the first case to go to trial.

He is the most high-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema's sometimes lacklustre response to the #MeToo movement.

The actor, dressed in a dark suit without a tie, entered the Paris criminal court with his hand on his lawyer's shoulder.

The trial relates to accusations of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of the movie "Les Volets Verts" (The Green Blinds) directed by Jean Becker. 

Anouk Grinberg, a well-known actor who starred in the film, is supporting the two plaintiffs, a 54-year-old set decorator and a 34-year-old assistant director. Both women claim they were sexually assaulted.

Greenberg said Depardieu constantly made "obscene innuendos" during filming, and claimed the producers who hired him knew they were "hiring a bully."

"This trial will allow us to confront all the accusations with reality, the witnesses and the layout of the premises. This way we will be able to show in an impartial, objective and irrefutable way that all the accusations are false," said Depardieu's lawyer, Jeremy Assus.

The trial, originally scheduled for October, was postponed due to the actor's ill health.

Assus said then that his client had undergone quadruple heart bypass surgery and suffered from diabetes, which was aggravated by the stress of the upcoming trial.

According to the lawyer, Depardieu's court appearances will be limited to six hours a day and he will take breaks when he "needs them." | BGNES