Slain French Actress Mourned

(AP)  Some of France's best-known film stars joined hundreds of mourners Wednesday in an emotional farewell to actress Marie Trintignant, whose brutal death stunned the country.

Many mourners - dressed in white, as requested by the family - cried as Trintignant was laid to rest on a scorching summer afternoon at the Pere Lachaise cemetery.

The 19th-century cemetery also is the burial place of Jim Morrison and other artistic notables, including Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin and Moliere.

The 41-year-old actress died Friday in a Paris hospital, five days after being beaten into a coma, allegedly by her boyfriend, French rock icon Bertrand Cantat. An autopsy showed she died of violent blows to her face and head.

Cantat, 39, was only told of Trintignant's death Monday out of concern for his mental health. He denies beating the actress, and no charges have been filed.

Trintignant, who hailed from one of France's most famous film families, was known for her beauty and for the challenging roles she played - usually women suffering from fragility, depression and other repercussions of difficult lives.

Director Claude Lelouch and actress Anouk Aimee were among the celebrities who gathered for a tribute earlier in the day at the Edouard VII theater, where they sang songs in Trintignant's memory.

At the afternoon funeral, Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon recalled "the struggle of Marie, the solitary struggle that she led for all people, no matter their suffering - and most particularly for women: for their freedom, for their dignity and for the defense of their equality."

Her father, film star Jean-Louis Trintignant, thanked the public for the hundreds of condolence letters received since his daughter's death. He read aloud a short poem:

"Do not cry, over that which you have lost. On the contrary, rejoice for having known it," he read, breaking down in tears.

Cantat, lead singer of France's top-selling rock band, Noir Desir, has been detained and confined to a prison hospital in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the alleged beating occurred.

Cantat had joined Trintignant in Vilnius, where she was on location finishing a television movie based on the life of famed French writer Colette. The movie was being directed by her mother, Nadine Trintignant.

French news media have widely reported that Trintignant and Cantat had a heated argument in their hotel room on July 27 that led to her death.

Doctors in Lithuania performed two operations on Trintignant but failed to ease pressure on her brain caused by cerebral hemorrhaging. She died in a Paris clinic after being flown home in a deep coma.


By Rachid Aouli