It was August 1, 2003. Marie Trintignant succumbed to her injuries after being beaten by her companion Bertrand Cantat. 18 years later, his mother, Nadine, pays tribute to him in a poignant documentary broadcast on Arte, Marie Trintignant, your shattered dreams.
Never since the tragedy, she had looked at images of her daughter. “I wanted her to be present. I wanted to respect Marie, who was a great actress, a wonderful girl, with freedom, generosity and warmth! I made this film with sincerity and simplicity. Touching, it is necessarily because she is no longer there and it is unfair”, proclaims Nadine Trintignant, who says she is “applied to conveying her cheerfulness.”
It is above all Marie’s career that is highlighted, her debut at age 11 in a film by her mother, her first real role in a film by her stepfather Alain Corneau. At 20, she has already toured with Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Claudia Cardinal, Fanny Ardant, in works by Ettore Scola or Claude Chabrol. “Marie, she plays like her father! Jean-Louis liked to play cruel, wicked characters. He said: ‘I get rid of my wickedness in poker and by turning characters like that.’ And Marie, it was another approach, but which arrived at the same result.
“She liked to play people defeated by injustice, mythomaniacs, crackpots, people who were out of balance.”
Nadine Trintignantat franceinfo
We discover a Marie so passionate about painting that she covered the floors and ceilings of her creations, a Marie whose middle name is Innocente, a sunny, reserved, mischievous Marie.
Moving passage when Jean-Louis Trintignant, in a distant interview, evokes the love he has for his daughter: “Marie, she’s been a wonder since she was born. She’s been nothing but happiness. There’s a phrase that I really like, it’s ‘Someone like me should never die.’ I believe she should never die.” “Yes, I will grow old and die”, replies Mary. And Nadine, in voiceover, adds: “Alas my daughter, you haven’t had time to grow old.”
“Jean-Louis was crazy about Marie. They had a very strong bond. With me, it was an intimacy, it’s different. We were both very similar”, confides Nadine Trintignant, for whom the pain remains as intense as ever.