Actor Gerard Depardieu, on the third day of a sexual assault trial, told a Paris court on Wednesday that he did not consider placing a hand on a person's buttocks sexual assault and that some women were too easily shocked, but denied assault.

A towering figure of French cinema, Depardieu, 76, has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations in recent years, which has put a spotlight on how women are treated in the movie industry.

Depardieu has denied wrongdoing and this is the first case over which he is standing trial. He is accused of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.

"Sexual assault is something more serious than that ... But a hand on someone's buttocks, it's not ... (that)," Depardieu said, when asked about allegations by one of the two plaintiffs that he had groped her, though he later said he didn't know what "sexual assault" meant.

He also denied touching her: "I did not touch her buttocks, I did not touch her breasts, I did none of that."

The young woman, the second plaintiff to testify, said Depardieu had sexually assaulted her.

"I was petrified, I was shocked, I did not know what to say," said the woman, who has asked that her name not be released publicly.

The French criminal code clearly spells out that touching someone's buttocks by surprise, constraint or threat is sexual assault.