Marie Trintignant

About the Marie Trintignant

Marie Trintignantwas a French film and stage actress. She appeared in over 30 movies during her 36-year career. Her family was deeply involved in France’s film industry, as her father was an actor and her mother was a director, producer, and screenwriter.

In 2003, Trintignant began an affair with Bertrand Cantat, the lead singer of French rock band Noir Desir. That same year, Cantat, Trintignant, and Trintignant’s mother traveled to Lithuania so Trintignant and her mother could finish work on a television movie. On 26 July 2003, while in their shared hotel room, Cantat flew into a jealous rage during an argument over a text message sent to Trintignant by her husband, from whom she was separated; Cantat proceeded to beat Trintignant severely about the head and face. She died days later from cerebral edema brought about by her injuries. Cantat was convicted of “murder with indirect intent” in her death and received an eight-year prison sentence, of which he served four before his early release. Trintignant’s case became a cause celebre in the discussion of domestic violence and leniency towards perpetrators.