Gerard Depardieu, one of France's most beloved movie actors, has played memorable roles enshrining him as a monument of French culture: Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables," Cyrano de Bergerac in Rostand's kitsch classic and Obelix in a cartoonish spoof of wily Gauls resisting the Romans.

In real life, however, Depardieu has suddenly taken on a new role: filthy-rich tax dodger, dissolute ingrate and traitor to his country in a time of need. It is a role he did not seek, but it has made him an unlikely political star at a time when France is bitterly divided over the Socialist government's efforts to pull out of an economic slump dragging into its fifth year.

After it became known Depardieu bought a house in Belgium to become what is called here a "fiscal exile," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called his conduct "tacky." Labor Minister Michel Sapin said he was an example not of France's cinematic accomplishments but of "personal degradation." Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti accused him of "deserting the battlefield in a war against the economic crisis."