JEAN-LOUIS TRINTIGNANT, dead at 91

[Chris Knipp]

JEAN-LOUIS TRINTIGNANT, 1930-2022



The prolific actor who starred in Éric Rohmer's most important film, MY NIGHT AT MAUD'S

He was one of the greatest French film actors, projecting grumpiness, sexiness, and intelligence, and he had some superb late-life roles, most of all as Georges, the husband caring for his dying wife, in Michael Haneke's powerful and heartbreaking film about an aging couple, AMOUR. More details in the NYTimes, IMDb, and in Peter Bradshaw's GUARDIAN obituary, in which he summarizes Trinignant's most important films. In a 66-year career he performed in 140 films.

He stood out because he was small and he was not handsome but he had authority, a defiant quality that was very distinctive. I can't think of any more individual and memorable actor in French movies.

My choice for his one must-see film: Éric Rohmer's most serious film, MY NIGHT AT MAUD'S (MY NUIT CHEZ MAUD), 1969. Talky? Yes. Riveting? Also yes.

Other significant roles: Roger Vadim's AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1956), Roger Vadim's LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (1959), Costa-Gavras'S Z (1969), Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST (1970), the Judge in Krzysztof Kieslowski's RED (1994), the old Albert Dehousse in Jacques Audiard's A SELF-MADE HERO (1996).

He worked for a lot of different directors. Directors he worked several times for: Claude Lelouch (the big hit A MAN AND A WOMAN), Alain Robbe-Grillet, Ettore Scola. In the Seventies era of dubbed international actors he was in a lot of Italian films.

[Chris Knipp]

A GUARDIAN gallery of lifetime photos of Jean-Louis Trintignant

[Chris Knipp]

Trintignant was also in Jacques Audiard's first film as a director, SEE HOW THEY FALL (1994), which is not easy to get hold of Stateside. Looking for it now. . .