Guillaume Perrodeau 6:24 p.m., June 17, 2022
Actor Jean-Louis Trintignant died on Friday at the age of 91, his family announced.
The actor of “And God … created woman”, “A man and a woman” and “Love” died “peacefully, of old age, this morning, at his home, in the Gard, surrounded by his loved ones”, said his wife.
Passed several times by the studios of Europe 1. To talk about his acting profession, of course, but also to evoke the drama of his life: the death of his daughter Marie.
A key figure in French cinema and theater, Jean-Louis Trintignant died Friday at the age of 91, announced his wife Mariane Hoepfner Trintignant.
The actor of “And God … created woman”, “A man and a woman” and “Love” died “peacefully, of old age, this morning, at his home, in the Gard, surrounded by his loved ones”, said his wife.
Passed several times during his long career by the studios of Europe 1, Jean-Louis Trintignant had the opportunity to talk about his job as an actor, of course, but also to talk about the drama of his life: the death of his daughter Marie.
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When Jean-Louis Trintignant played with the greatest actresses
The first Cannes consecration
The Césars waited until 2013 and the film "Amour" to crown Jean-Louis Trintignant best actor.
But already, at the beginning of his career, the French actor obtained two distinctions of international stature.
A Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Festival for "The Lying Man" in 1968, and especially the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1969, for "Z" by Costa-Gavras.
After the announcement of this prize, Jean-Louis Trintignant reacts to the microphone of Europe 1: "I learned about it from television like everyone else. I heard my name, I was surprised".
The death of Marie Trintignant
Jean-Louis Trintignant has experienced many personal dramas in his life.
The death of his daughter Marie, when she was 41, under the blows of Bertrand Cantat, will remain a tragic episode from which he never recovered.
In 2003, Europe 1 went to the funeral of Marie Trintignant.
A large crowd gathered at Père Lachaise to pay him a final tribute.
Very moved, sobs in his voice, Jean-Louis Trintignant speaks.
At the microphone, he refers to the dozens of letters of support received.
In 2013, Bertrand Cantat confides for the first time on the death of Marie Trintignant in a long interview with
Inrocks
.
Jean-Louis Trintignant reserves his first reaction for Europe 1. "He thinks what he wants, that's his problem. (…) I erased him from my life", he says.
"After the tragedy, I thought he would kill himself but he didn't and that's his problem."
The theater man
Jean-Louis Trintignant has acted in more than 130 films.
But he is also a great theater actor.
When he gave this interview to Frédéric Taddéï on Europe 1, in 2008, he had stopped the cinema for six years and he absolutely did not miss it.
"I'm doing very well. I like doing theater a lot," he says.
According to him, cinema is a "canning" art because performances are recorded on film.
"We should only play live," he pleads.
"At the theater, every night is different and everything is possible".
The return with love
After ten years of absence on the big screen, Jean-Louis Trintignant makes a triumphant return to the cinema in "Amour" by Michael Haneke.
The film received the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival and critics hailed the exceptional performances of Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant.
On stage, during the award ceremony, the actor quotes Jacques Prévert through a poem: "And if we tried to be happy, if only to set an example".
His relationship to death
In the morning of Europe 1, Bruce Toussaint interview Jean-Louis Trintignant on the occasion of the release of the film "Love" in theaters, in 2012. The actor evokes, without detour, his relationship to death.
"I think it's normal, I'm even over the age," he says.
"From the age of 65, we are a bit out of society, we become cumbersome. I am ashamed, sometimes, of being a little old, of continuing to work. And at the same time, I like so much to do the actor", says the comedian at the microphone of Europe 1. After "Love", Jean-Louis Trintignant had shot again with Michael Haneke, in 2017, for "Happy End".