For powerful men in France’s film industry, this was a week of reckoning. Gérard Depardieu — the country’s most famous actor — was convicted of sexual assault. Two days later, the Cannes Film Festival barred another actor accused of rape from walking the red carpet.

French courts may finally be taking years of complaints about sexual violence seriously, advocates and experts say.

The actor received a suspended sentence after being found guilty of groping two women on the set of the 2021 film, The Green Shutters