Jean-Louis Trintignant obit

Jean-Louis Trintignant, star of A Man and a Woman and Amour, dies aged 91

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The veteran of the French new wave starred in a series of auteur-driven films, before appearing in Michael Haneke’s Amour

 He was not on the list.

Jean-Louis Trintignant, the French actor closely associated with the European new waves of the 1960s and 70s, has died aged 91. His wife, Mariane Hoepfner Trintignant, announced the news to AFP.

Born in 1930, Trintignant’s childhood was overshadowed by the second world war, but he picked up a passion for race-car driving from two uncles – one of whom was killed on the track in 1933. Trintignant made his name as an actor with a role in Roger Vadim’s Brigitte Bardot vehicle And God Created Woman in 1956, but was then sent to Algeria as a conscript during the war of independence.

On his return to France Trintignant channelled his love for racing into the lead role of Claude Lelouch’s 1966 international hit A Man and a Woman, playing a widower who falls in love with Anouk Aimée. Renowned for its theme music (by Francis Lai), A Man and a Woman was a breakthrough success for French cinema in the US. Trintignant and Aimée would appear in two follow-ups: A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later (1986) and The Best Years of a Life (2019).

He would go on to work with a string of the major directors of the era. With Claude Chabrol in the Highsmithian drama Les Biches (1968), co-starring Stéphane Audran, to whom Trintignant had been married in the mid-1950s. He played a magistrate investigating an assassination in Costa-Gavras’s Oscar-winning Z (1969), and starred in similarly political material with Bernardo Bertolucci’s anti-fascist drama The Conformist (1970). He also starred in Éric Rohmer’s discussional romance My Night at Maud’s (1969).

Trintignant confined his activities almost exclusively to European cinema, but he did play a spy in Under Fire in 1983, the Roger Spottiswoode-directed political thriller set during the Sandinista rebellion in Nicaragua. He would also go on to star in the final films of two major European auteurs, playing an estate agent suspected of murder in François Truffaut’s Finally, Sunday! (1983), and a retired judge in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours: Red (1994), with Irene Jacob.

Having made few films in the late 90s and 2000s, Trintignant had a major success with Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winning drama Amour in 2012, opposite Emmanuelle Riva, as an elderly married couple trying to cope alone after the latter has a stroke. The film won a string of major awards, with Trintignant winning best actor at the Césars. Trintignant then appeared in Haneke’s next film, Happy End, in 2017.

Trintignant was survived by his wife Marianne Hoepfner, who he married in 2000. He had two previous marriages: Audran between 1954⁠ and ⁠1956 and to film-maker Nadine Marquand from 1960⁠ to ⁠1976​. He had three children, including Marie Trintignant, who was killed in 2003 by her boyfriend Bertrand Cantat.

He made a critical and commercial breakthrough in And God Created Woman (1956), followed by a starmaking romantic turn in A Man and a Woman (1966). He won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 1968 Berlin International Film Festival for his performance in The Man Who Lies and the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival for Costa-Gavras's Z. Trintignant's other notable films include The Great Silence (1968), My Night at Maud's (1969), The Conformist (1970), Three Colours: Red (1994), and The City of Lost Children (1995). He won the 2013 César Award for Best Actor for his role in Michael Haneke's Amour.

Filmography

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Year     Title     Role     Director           Notes

1955    If All the Guys in the World    Jean-Louis       Christian-Jaque           

1956    La Loi des rues           Yves Tréguier  Ralph Habib   

And God Created Woman       Michel Tardieu            Roger Vadim  

Women's Club Michel Ralph Habib   

1959    Les liaisons dangereuses         Danceny          Roger Vadim  

Violent Summer          Carlo Caremoli            Valerio Zurlini

1960    Austerlitz         Ségur junior     Abel Gance    

1961    Pleins feux sur l'assassin         Jean-Marie de Kerloguen        Georges Franju           

Journey Beneath the Desert    Pierre   Edgar G. Ulmer          

1962    Horace 62 [fr]  Joseph Fabiani André Versini 

Le Combat dans l'île   Clément Lesser           Alain Cavalier

Il Sorpasso      Roberto Mariani          Dino Risi        

1963    Château en Suède       Éric      Roger Vadim  

1964    The Last Steps Joe       Jacques Robin

1964    Mata Hari, Agent H21 François Lasalle          Jean-Louis Richard    

1965    The Sleeping Car Murders      Éric Grandin   Costa-Gavras  

1966    A Man and a Woman  Jean-Louis Duroc        Claude Lelouch          

Diamond Safari           Raphaële Vincente      Michel Drach 

La Longue Marche      Philippe           Alexandre Astruc       

Trans-Europ-Express   Elias    Alain Robbe-Grillet   

1967    Un homme à abattre [fr]          Raphaël           Philippe Condroyer [fr]          

Col cuore in gola         Bernard           Tinto Brass     

My Love, My Love     Vincent Falaise            Nadine Trintignant     

1968    Death Laid an Egg      Marco  Giulio Questi  

Les Biches       Paul Thomas   Claude Chabrol          

The Man Who Lies     Jan Robin / Boris Varissa        Alain Robbe-Grillet   

The Great Silence       Gordon ("Silence")     Sergio Corbucci         

The Libertine   Carlo De Marchi         Pasquale Festa Campanile     

1969    Z          Christos Sartzetakis     Costa-Gavras  

Metti, una sera a cena Michele           Giuseppe Patroni Griffi          

My Night at Maud's    Jean-Louis       Éric Rohmer   

L'Américain [fr]          Bruno  Marcel Bozzuffi         

So Sweet... So Perverse          Jean Reynaud  Umberto Lenzi           

1970    The Conformist           Marcello Clerici          Bernardo Bertolucci   

Le Voyou         Simon Duroc   Claude Lelouch          

1971    Ramparts of Clay        the entrepreneur          Jean-Louis Bertucelli 

L'Opium et le Bâton    Chaudier          Ahmed Rachedi         

Without Apparent Motive       Stéphane Carella         Philippe Labro

1972    ...and Hope to Die       Antoine Cardot           René Clément 

The Assassination        François Darien           Yves Boisset   

The Outside Man        Lucien Bellon Jacques Deray

1973    The Train         Julien Maroyeur          Pierre Granier-Deferre           

A Full Day's Work                  directed           

1974    Violins at the Ball       Michel Michel Drach 

Successive Slidings of Pleasure          the police officer         Alain Robbe-Grillet   

Le Mouton enragé       Nicolas Mallet Michel Deville           

The Secret       David Daguerre           Robert Enrico 

1975    L'Agression     Paul Varlin       Gérard Pirès   

Flic Story        Émile Buisson Jacques Deray

Il pleut sur Santiago    Senator            Helvio Soto    

Playing with Fire         le bel homme / l'homme de main        Alain Robbe-Grillet   

The Sunday Woman    Massimo Campi          Luigi Comencini        

1976    The Desert of the Tartars         Rovin  Valerio Zurlini

Le Voyage de noces    Paul Carter      Nadine Trintignant     

L'Ordinateur des pompes funèbres [fr]           Fred Malon      Gérard Pirès   

1977    The Passengers            Alex Moineau Serge Leroy    

Repérages        Victor  Michel Soutter

1978    L'Argent des autres     Henri Rainier   Christian de Chalonge

1980    The Lady Banker        Horace Vannister         Francis Girod 

La terrazza       Enrico D'Orsi  Ettore Scola    

Je vous aime    Julien   Claude Berri   

1981    Un assassin qui passe [fr]        Ravic   Michel Vianey [fr]      

Passion of Love          the doctor        Ettore Scola    

Malevil            Fulbert Christian de Chalonge

Eaux profondes           Vic Allen         Michel Deville           

1982    Le Grand Pardon [fr]   Commissaire Duché   Alexandre Arcady      

Boulevard des assassins [fr]    Daniel Salmon Boramy Tioulong [fr] 

Blow to the Heart        Dario   Gianni Amelio

The Night at Varennes Monsieur Sauce          Ettore Scola    

1983    Confidentially Yours   Julien Vercel    François Truffaut        

La Crime [fr]   Christian Lacassagne  Philippe Labro

Under Fire       Marcel Jazy     Roger Spottiswoode   

1984    Viva la vie!      François Gaucher        Claude Lelouch          

1985    Next Summer  Paul     Nadine Trintignant     

Partir, revenir  Roland Rivière            Claude Lelouch          

Rendez-vous   Scrutzler          André Téchiné

L'Homme aux yeux d'argent [fr]         Mayene           Pierre Granier-Deferre           

1986    A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later Jean-Louis Duroc        Claude Lelouch          

La Femme de ma vie  Pierre   Régis Wargnier           

1987    The Ghost Valley        Paul     Alain Tanner  

1989    Bunker Palace Hôtel   Holm   Enki Bilal       

1991    Merci la vie     SS officier       Bertrand Blier

1994    Three Colours: Red    Joseph Kern    Krzysztof Kieślowski 

1995    The City of Lost Children       Uncle Irvin      Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro      Voice only

Fiesta [fr]         Colonel Masagual       Pierre Boutron

1996    A Self Made Hero       Albert Dehousse (the matured one)    Jacques Audiard         

1998    Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train       Lucien Emmerich / Jean-Baptiste Emmerich Patrice Chéreau          

2003    Janis et John [fr]          Monsieur Cannon       Samuel Benchetrit      

2012    Amour Georges           Michael Haneke         

2017    Happy End      Georges Laurent          Michael Haneke         

2019    The Best Years of a Life         Jean-Louis Duroc        Claude Lelouch           Final film released during Trintignant's lifetime

2024    The Most Precious of Cargoes            Narrator (voice)           Michel Hazanavicius   Posthumous release; final film role