Sacred monster of French cinema, Jean-Paul Belmondo died on Monday at his Parisian home at 88 years old.
Tributes multiply to salute the exceptional career of the "professional".
Emmanuel Macron, Jean Castex, Roselyne Bachelot, as well as presidential candidates reacted to his disappearance.
“A sublime hero and a familiar figure.
"Like the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who praised the career of an actor in whom" we all found ourselves ", the main French politicians paid tribute to Jean-Paul Belmondo, who died on Monday in the age of 88.
Prime Minister Jean Castex declared himself "very sad" after the death of the man who was "truly a legend of French cinema, a very great symbol of our cinematographic heritage".
“He was so French in his own way, I believe loved by all generations.
He is an actor that I adored, ”he added after a trip to Beaurepaire (Isère).
An actor who "reconciles all French people", for Roselyne Bachelot
The Minister of Culture for her part expressed, on RTL, her "immense sorrow" at the announcement of the death of Jean-Paul Belmondo. "It is rare for an artist who succeeds in reconciling all the French" in "popular films" as in "auteur cinema", underlined Roselyne Bachelot, remembering a man who "exuded sympathy, benevolence , humor ”. The Minister announced that a tribute would be paid to the actor, of which the President of the Republic "will fix the contours".
Among his predecessors, Aurélie Filippetti (2012-2014) also believes “that the actor reconciled all genres and all audiences through his expressiveness, his verve, his way of devouring life as much as film.
"For Frack Riester (2018-2020)," the seventh art is losing a giant.
France is losing a legend.
And each of us mourns the one who was like a friend.
"
“Everyone wanted to have him as a friend,” reacts François Hollande.
For the former President of the Republic, “Jean-Paul Belmondo will have been able to forge an exceptional relationship with the French, both for the roles he had been able to interpret with the filmmakers of the New Wave and for the films that 'he has toured and that have had immense success'.
The tributes of the presidential candidates
Unanimous tribute also from candidates of all stripes for the presidential election.
“He embodied panache, banter and French seduction.
It leaves us breathless ”, underlines Valérie Pécresse, president (Libres) of the Ile-de-France region.
"I remember his masterful films:
Cop or thug
in the streets of Nice,
The Professional
with his charisma and his incomparable acting," quotes Eric Ciotti, another candidate for the right-wing primary.
“France will miss his talent.
"
For Xavier Bertrand, “Jean-Paul Belmondo represented youth, humor and French banter”.
“By his talent, he brought together the generations.
Authentic, the French loved it.
"
“Goodbye the artist!
"Our cultural heritage is losing a monument," laments Yannick Jadot, candidate for the EELV nomination.
“So many films, emotions, laughter, stunts, that we never tire of seeing and seeing again!
Thank you so much.
"
For Anne Hidalgo, PS mayor of Paris, "a giant is gone".
“Leading actor of the New Wave, popular hero in the films of Gérard Oury or Georges Lautner, immense Cyrano at the theater: Jean-Paul Belmondo was all of these at the same time.
Thank you for these fabulous memories which will have marked so many generations.
»Fabien Roussel (Communist Party) says he is« sad to see him go but so happy with what he leaves us: the memory of the artist, the stuntman, the actor and the popular actor.
"
Marine Le Pen, president of the RN, salutes “an inimitable mouth and banter, an actor and a legendary stuntman.
With its disappearance, we are losing a bit of that old-fashioned French elegance that the cinema lacks a lot ”.
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Jean-paul belmondo
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