The protagonist of “Z”, “And God created the woman” and “Love”, left his last breath this morning, due to old age, at his house in Gar, “surrounded by his relatives”, said the his widow.
A voice recognizable among all the others, a melancholy presence that magnetized the viewer: the French actor Jean-Louis Trentinian who died this morning in old age 91 years old, built a huge career, almost seven decades, with more than 160 roles in theater and cinemaon the side of “sacred monsters”.
The 1960s were all his own: he went down in cinema history with film “A man, a woman” by Claude Lelouch (Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966) and won the Performance Award at the same festival three years later, in 1969, with the “Z” by Costas Gavras. At the end of his career came another highlight, the Cesar Award for his performance in “Love” of Michael Haneke, in 2013.
This perfectionist and timid man was also a restless spirit who revealed that at one point he had suicidal tendencies: “I admit I was never very happy,” he said.
This pessimism accompanied him for many years before from the death of his daughter, Marie, with whom he had a close relationship. Marie fell dead in 2003, murdered by the hand of her partner, the singer Bertrand Kanda. A few months earlier, a father and daughter had performed Guillaume Apollinaire’s “Poems to Lou” together on stage.
Marie’s tragedy haunted him forever. “I could have stopped my life at that moment,” he said. At the urging of his family, he returned to the stage and found a “cure” in poetry and theater. The theatrical board was “his true profession,” as he once told the French Agency. “We make cinema a little out of vanity.”
Trentinian was born on December 11, 1930 in Piolan, in the south of France. He was the son of an industrialist and the nephew of racing driver Maurice Trentinian. The shy young man, who gave the impression that he was “elsewhere”, took theater lessons in Paris and took the stage in 1951 at Schiller’s “Maria Stewart”. A few years later, in 1956, came the movie “If All the Men in the World” by Christian Zack. In the same year he made the film “And God made woman” co-starring Brigitte Bardot, a relationship with which was much discussed.
Returning from his traumatic military service in Algeria, the actor plays in “Dangerous relationships” directed by Rose Vadim and his nervous, sensitive interpretation seduces. Following is the film “A Man, a Woman” with Anuk Aime. Versatile in his performances, he chooses roles in both commercial films (“Burn Paris”, 1966), as well as in avant-garde (“The Man Who Lies”, Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival) and in politics (“G” of Costas Gavras). In total, he starred in more than 120 films, including “The Conformist” of Bernardo Bertolucci.
Trentinian also undertook to direct two films, which, however, were not very successful.
Since the 1980s he has focused on theater, without forgetting his love for cinema, making films like “Three Colors: The Red Ribbon” and “Look at the Men Who Fall”.
After the loss of his daughter, he left the cinema for a decade and returned dynamically in 2012 with “Love” where he played an 80-year-old man facing the death of his wife. With Haneke he will return in 2017 and the film Happy End, which competed in Cannes. In the same year he gave a final theatrical tour, reciting poems by Prever, Vian and Desnos.
To close the circle, in 2019 he met again with Claude Lelouch and Anouk Aime for the “sequel” of the movie “A man, a woman”, 53 years later.
Trentinian had three marriages and had three children, all from his second wife, the niece Nandin Markan. For the last thirty years he lived near Izes, in Gar, near his favorite vineyards.
Brigitte Bardot, Anouk Aimée, Emmanuelle Riva … At the end of her career, Jean-Louis Trinting a multiplicity of love stories, enchanting the cult roles. https://t.co/QW42vq5Lgr #JeanLouisTrintignant @EmmanuelDurget pic.twitter.com/N25RbAnbRD
– Le Point (@LePoint) June 17, 2022
Décès de Jean-Louis Trintignant, one of the last colossi (with Alain Delon) of the 🇫🇷 & cin cinema.
Filmography ahurissante collaborate with the most big names: Claude Lelouch, Dino Risi, Costa Gavras, Roger Vadim, Sergio Corbucci, Yves Boisset, Bernardo Bertolucci…
A Giant. pic.twitter.com/dfkzwNqxZP
– Jetblack (@Alex_Jetblack) June 17, 2022
Jean-Louis Trintignant is part of rejoindre sa fille Marie 😭😢 https://t.co/PERWoIYj7x
– Franmar 🏳️🌈 (@ Franmar35000) June 17, 2022
Skai.gr,
