Gérard Depardieu reigned over French cinema for half a century, a national icon as familiar as the baguette.

When French actor Gérard Depardieu walks into a Paris courtroom on Monday, he won’t just be facing two women who accuse him of sexual assault — he’ll also be confronting a nation long criticized for dragging its feet in confronting sexual violence, particularly when committed by the powerful.

A Paris court has found a filmmaker guilty of sexual assault on French actor Adèle Haenel when she was between 12 and 15 in the early 2000s, in the country’s first big #MeToo trial.