I  did not  know French was a defensive opening either

About Caro Kann, it has been played by active players like Topalov.
Many black players thinks that GM repertour Caro Kann is too sharp for them.

I know lots of gambit players hates Caro Kann, like in Swedish Championship last year I frustrated a player who had prepeared Morra Gambit and I won against hes Panov Attack. This also lead to that an other player who ususally opens with 1 e4 played 1 d4 against me. 

Marc Benford wrote on 06/25/14 at 19:37:11:


If you have well-developed methods of trying to put both of them away, why be fearful? They are both basically defensive openings, the Caro especially, which rely for winning chances on the player with the White pieces over-reaching.