A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said a preliminary investigation into the allegations of rape and sexual assault was underway. If the investigation warrants a formal inquiry, the case will proceed to the next step. The prosecutor’s office would not comment further and did not name the woman who had made the accusations.

The actor’s lawyer told BFM television that Mr. Depardieu was “stunned” by the accusations and “absolutely contests any sexual assault,” and “any rape, any infractions.” The lawyer, Hervé Temime, said the accusations were “the opposite of what Mr. Depardieu is” and that “he doesn’t accept the accusations” which “hurt him a lot.”

Mr. Depardieu is the second prominent French film figure to be accused of rape this year, after the director Luc Besson. The reaction to the well-documented accusations against Mr. Besson has been relatively muted when compared with similar charges against American celebrities — although a French #MeToo movement, #BalanceTonPorc (Call Out Your Pig) did spring up — underscoring the difference between the sexual culture in the two countries.

The actress Catherine Deneuve and more than 100 other prominent Frenchwomen signed a letter in January that appeared in the newspaper Le Monde, saying that the #MeToo movement had gone too far. She later publicly apologized to victims of sexual violence who had been offended by the letter.

French television dealt summarily with the accusations on Thursday night’s news, not dwelling on them, suggesting that a Harvey Weinstein-like reaction in France is not to be expected.