A hooligan from a large provincial family who made his living as a black marketeer and “rejected” from the army by feigning a mental disorder; a unique actor who has played about two hundred roles in films, television and theater and received awards from all prestigious film festivals; director and producer; a singer who has recorded several songs; the author of two autobiographical books and a collection of culinary recipes, a lover of acting in classical plays and “costume” films, preferring to read biographies of historical figures; a glutton and a drinker, shocking the public with bad manners; an offender who has been on trial several times; a successful businessman, owner of vineyards and two restaurants; a person who makes acquaintance with dubious personalities and top officials of states: F. Mitterrand, J. Chirac, F. Castro, V. Yushchenko, Pope John Paul II. Such a list would be enough for a dozen biographies; but all this is about Gerard Depardieu. French journalist Bernard Violet talks about an extraordinary man who has become as much a symbol of France as the Marseillaise and the Eiffel Tower.