To his many achievements — film producer, philanthropist, serial sex offender — Harvey Weinstein can add failed lobbyist for leniency.

His 23-year jail sentence for sexual assault and third-degree rape is six years short of the maximum sought by prosecutors, but 18 years more than his lawyers had requested in an extraordinary plea for leniency. Weinstein “like most people, is complicated”, they wrote this week. The trial “did not fairly portray who he is as a person”.

As a fallen Hollywood mogul, Weinstein knows a good biopic cannot include everything. But then perhaps he has lost his self-awareness (as well as his marriage, company, privacy, and “means to earn a living”). That explains his lawyers’ attempt to persuade the judge to take account of his “commercial success and contribution to the arts and entertainment industry”.