The presiding judge said two witnesses corroborated her account whilst Depardieu, who was not present for the ruling, had been contradictory in his own accounts.

A Paris court is set to deliver a verdict Tuesday on accusations that French actor Gérard Depardieu sexually assaulted two women who were working on a film with him in 2021.

It is also seen as a landmark #MeToo test case in France, which was slow to embrace the movement, with a near omertà in the film world around the question of inappropriate behaviour until recently.