Gérard Depardieu absent at sexual assault trial

French actor Gerard Depardieu's sexual assault trial has opened without him after his lawyer asked for a delay.

Depardieu was expected to appear at the criminal court hearing in Paris on Monday, local time, but declared himself too unwell to attend.

Just hours before the start of formal proceedings, his lawyer said that the Cyrano de Bergerac actor was "extremely affected" by ill health, and he asked for proceedings to be delayed until he could attend in person.

"Gerard Depardieu is extremely affected and unfortunately his doctors have forbidden him from being present at the hearing, which is why he will ask for a postponement to a later date so that he can attend," he told French radio network Franceinfo.

Depardieu faces charges of abuse that allegedly occurred during a 2021 film shoot. The names of the two women accusing him have not been made public.

One of the plaintiffs, a set dresser now aged 55, reported in February that she suffered sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults while filming director Jean Becker's Les Volet Verts (The Green Shutters) in a private house in Paris.

The actor is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema's version of the #MeToo movement.

He has numerous other complaints and a possible second court case already lined up.