Montpellier (AFP)
The theater director Alain Françon was seriously wounded with a stab in the throat Wednesday in the middle of the day in Montpellier in circumstances which could not be specified immediately, we learned from corroborating sources.
The 76-year-old director had been giving lessons at the National School of Dramatic Art in Montpellier since mid-February, and collapsed in the street near the hotel where he was staying, in the historic center of the city, according to a source close to the investigation.
Seriously affected, he was evacuated to a hospital by firefighters around 11:40 am, according to departmental security, which noted blood marks in several streets.
On site in the early afternoon, no trace of the assault was visible, noted an AFP photographer.
Born in 1945 in Saint-Etienne, Alain Françon notably founded the company Le Théâtre explodé in Annecy in the 1970s before directing the National Dramatic Center of Lyon, then that of Savoie.
In 1996, he became head of the Théâtre national de la Colline in Paris, a position he held until 2010.
In 2016, he received for the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" by Edward Albee, performed at L'Oeuvre theater, the Molière from the private theater director.
In Maïwenn's latest film, "DNA", released at the end of 2020, he played the role of the "castrator" father of the actress and director, who had once again drawn from his own history for his work.
© 2021 AFP