A Voice for Marie
Marie Trintignant fought loud and hard to make her voice heard. And now, once again, it is being silenced.
As a child, Trintignant was so traumatized by the crib death of her sister Pauline that she stopped speaking for a time; combatting and overcoming her trauma via a career in the dramatic arts.
Ultimately, Trintignant made 63 films, many of them testaments to women’s strength.
These include Victoire, ou Les Douleur des Femmes (a story of the early women’s movement), Une Affaire des Femmes (Story of Women), and the film that is perhaps her crowning achievement: Colette: Une Femme Libre. She wrote and starred in this stirring biography of the French author Colette, which was directed by her mother — premiere French director Nadine Trintignant. She won Biarritz International Festival of Audiovisual Programming Golden FIPA Awards for Les Douleur des Femmes and Colette. And she was nominated for four French Cesar Awards.
Her voice was silenced once again in 2003, when Marie Trintignant was murdered by her rock star boyfriend.
“Bertrand Cantat…was found guilty of murdering actor Marie Trintignant in 2003 and served four years of an eight-year jail sentence,” reports The Guardian. “The court was told he hit Trintignant repeatedly in the head and waited for several hours before calling emergency services. She died in hospital.”
Now let us consider this for just a moment. A man served four years in prison for the murder of this woman. Elsewhere in the world, a mother of four is serving 12 years for selling $31 worth of pot. Just sayin’.
Now it seems that Monsieur Cantat is making a comeback; first appearing on the cover of the French music magazine Inrockuptibles, and next playing the Papillon de Nuits Festival in Normandie.
This despite a petition, currently boasting nearly 68,000 signatures, demanding his removal from the bill. This despite the fact that the French edition of Marie Claire countered Inrockuptibles’ cover with one that featured a photo of Marie; along with the caption, “Marie Trintignant died under the blows of Bertrand Cantat. Today she is a symbol … her face has become that of all the female victims of the violence of men. The face of the 123 women killed by their spouse last year.”
Over on the festival Facebook page, fans and organizers alike are lauding the festival’s decision to keep Cantat on the bill as a victory of free speech and artistic freedom.
Not. So. Fast.
If I have it my way, this SOB won’t be able to score a gig as the opening act at the Butcher Holler County Fair (you know, the one that plays while you’re elsewhere scoring your elephant ears and cotton candy).
What about Marie Trintignant’s right to artistic freedom, to continue excelling at the art that saved her from silence? What about her right to live?
OK, so here’s the plan. Let’s all sign the petition requesting Cantat’s removal from the festival lineup. Then let’s present our viewpoint on the festival Facebook page . Facebook comes complete with a translator, so they’ll hear us loud and clear.
French First Lady Brigitte Macron has praised her nation’s women for “breaking the silence” in the fight against domestic and sexual violence. Let’s join them, in the process giving Marie Trintignant the voice she fought so hard to keep.
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