relive the highlights of the farewell to the “sacred monster” of French cinema and theater

0

The tribute to Michel Bouquet, who died on April 13 at the age of 96, was held at the Invalides this Wednesday April 27, 2022. Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, presided over the ceremony in the presence of the family and members of the government. Fabrice Luchini, Muriel Robin and Pierre Arditi took the floor. All spoke of their meeting with the man they often called the “father of theatre”. Humble and hard worker, always listening, Michel Bouquet leaves behind a legacy carried by his “students”, who each paid him an intimate and poignant tribute. Here are the five highlights of the ceremony at Les Invalides.

Fabrice Luchini: “One of my most beautiful encounters”

He held his very first acting role alongside Michel Bouquet in Vincent put the donkey in one meadow (and came to another). In the courtyard of the Invalides, he remembers the shooting. “You were so courteous, warm, benevolent. My response came simply. It was enough to listen to you and answer you.” The meeting marks him and remains “one of the most beautiful” of his existence as an actor. A moment of grace, like the interpretation of Pozzo – a character from Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett – by Michel Bouquet at the Palais des Papes in Avignon. “No one could play for you, no one could replace you”, he added.

Muriel Robin: “My theater father”

Very moved, Muriel Robin sent a letter to “Mr. Bouquet”. “Because I have always called you that, without a first name, you remained the master. Sir for nobility and elegance”, she details. Their meeting took place at the Paris Conservatoire. Both were starting out, she as a student, he as a teacher. Gradually it becomes “his theatrical father”. While the young actress of 25 years was discouraged, he reassured her during a walk, arm in arm. “You have undoubtedly prevented me from dying and even more, given me to live”, she says after a short silence. Muriel Robin ends her farewell letter, with a familiarity, the one she was able to give him only during their last interview.

Pierre Arditi: “You are the theater and the theater never dies”

Partner of Michel Bouquet in several films, the 77-year-old actor underlined his sense of rigor. “To serve and not to serve was your credo, your profession of faith”, he points out. Pierre Arditi depicts the way in which the actor has always privileged the author, has erased himself to better embody the characters. “You have managed to keep your word, but fortunately, you have not managed to make yourself forgotten, your incarnations are so immense”, he notes, his voice choppy. As a playmate, he tells behind the scenes of the actor’s work: the anxieties, the burial in the role to come. He concludes in one sentence: “Michel, you are the theatre, and the theater never dies.”

Emmanuel Macron: “He burst the screen for 70 years”

For his first official release since his re-election, Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Michel Bouquet by recalling his journey: an unhappy childhood in boarding school, the war, the discovery of the theater by his mother, his love for Molière but also Ionesco and Beckett. “He will have burned the boards and punctured the screen for 70 years”, articulates, grateful, the President. Paying tribute to cultural personalities is Emmanuel Macron’s signature. Unlike recent national tributes paid to Jean-Paul Belmondo (2021) or Charles Aznavour (2018), the coffin was not present this time, Michel Bouquet having already been buried on April 15 in the strictest privacy in the native village of his wife, actress Juliette Carré, in Yonne. At the end of the tribute, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron escorted Juliette Carré, as well as her relatives to the exit of the Invalides. For a final farewell to the sacred monster of French cinema and theatre.


source site-10