The actor was buried in the municipal cemetery of Pont de Justice, this Wednesday morning in Nîmes, in the intimacy of the family. A few film personalities were present, such as Claude Lelouch and Marc Lavoine.
He left as he had lived and pierced the curtain of fame: discreetly. Actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, who died last Friday in Collias, at the age of 91, was buried this Wednesday in the Pont de Justice cemetery, in Nîmes, in this land of the Gard which he cherished at least as much as his father, former mayor of Pont-Saint-Esprit. The secret had been well kept. No hedge of photographers or national media to spy on the relatives who came to pay him a final tribute. Family, friends, only a few people, barely a hundred people. The first circle!
At the head of the procession and at the heart of attention, Marianne Hoepfner, the actor’s wife, and Nadine, his ex-wife and mother of his son Vincent. Among the unavoidable faithful, the director Claude Lelouch embraces the two women in turn. The sadness is palpable but there are smiles, a pleasure of reunion for this last moment that Jean-Louis may have wanted happy. Claude Lelouch who claimed a few days ago to have lost his “greatest memory” but also “the first actor who said yes to me”.
Richard Kolinka et Charles Berling
A few moments earlier, the director of A man and a woman exchanged with the journalist Claude Sérillon, who had received in 2001, at 8 p.m. on France 2, Jean-Louis and Marie Trintignant for a very fusional interview on a common play. . “Marie, it’s marvelous, only happiness, she has never been a concern” had confided the actor, a few months before the tragic disappearance of his daughter. In the procession, also, Richard Kolinka, ex-drummer of the group telephone who was the companion of Marie Trintignant, the actors (and singer) Marc Lavoine and Charles Berling.
Beautiful people to accompany Jean-Louis to his final resting place, at the foot of a huge cypress where a group of musicians also awaits. A few notes to meditate, one last time, on “the great mystery that surrounded Jean-Louis”, according to Costa Gavras. Or what another director, Jean-Michel Ribes, identified as “this capacity for charm and ambiguity which guided him in life.” And probably beyond.
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