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VILNIUS LITHUANIA
JULY 27, 2003
Hello?
Listen, we received a message from the hospital.
What's happened?
A woman has been brought in from a hotel.
She's in intensive care. She's in critical condition.
POLICE
Her partner beat her up.
Okay, we'll go arrest him.
He's French.
Bertrand Cantat, the leader of the band Noir Désir,
is accused of assaulting his partner in Vilnius, Lithuania.
He's in custody and faces three to 15 years in prison.
Actress Marie Trintignant is in the hospital in critical condition.
Was the couple under the influence of alcohol or drugs?
What happened between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m.?
JOURNALIST AT LE POINT MAGAZINE
Such a huge news story,
involving two celebrities, is unprecedented in France.
It was a media shock wave.
Bertrand Cantat…
-Bertrand Cantat… -Bertrand Cantat…
-Marie Trintignant… -Marie Trintignant in critical condition.
What really happened in that Vilnius hotel on Saturday night
and the early hours of Sunday?
What might Bertrand Cantat have done
for Marie Trintignant to end up in the hospital in a coma?
What's more important than music for you?
Bertrand is jealous, possessive and exclusive.
Was it an accident? A dispute that went wrong?
It was an accident, yes.
But we were far from the truth.
She punched me in the face. She hit me.
It is implausible to think that this frail, young woman
could have pushed to the ground a big guy, who's a real athlete,
1.9 meters tall, weighing 85 kilograms.
We only have one truth.
We only have Cantat's truth.
There's still so much omertà, so many people scared to speak out.
I've had problems.
I won't talk.
This story moved and divided France.
It was really something to see him again.
Fuck off!
What I would have loved is to never hear anyone talk about the guy again.
We were madly in love with each other. I told her, "We love each other too much."
You dogs!
It's not possible. It's completely unreal.
Bertrand, she's still alive.
Today, this story has to be told as it really happened.
FROM ROCK STAR TO KILLER
EPISODE 1 ACCIDENT?
POLICE
Bertrand Cantat, do you have a lot of things to say?
AUGUST 8, 2003 BERTRAND CANTAT'S HEARING
THESE IMAGES WERE RECORDED BY THE LITHUANIAN COURT.
THEY ARE USUALLY KEPT SECRET.
So, as I said,
the hearing is being filmed with a Panasonic camera.
The suspect, Bertrand Bruno Lucien Cantat,
is notified that he is suspected,
on the night of the 26th to 27th of July, 2003,
of intentionally beating Marie Trintignant.
Before we end the show, just a reminder of the top story.
Actress Marie Trintignant is in a coma
following a violent argument with her partner, Bertrand Cantat,
singer in the band Noir Désir.
It happened in Lithuania while she was shooting a TV movie.
I'd been a journalist for ten years, specializing in police and legal affairs.
PRESS 2003 MICHELLE FINES
On that day, I must have just arrived in the newsroom at 9:15 a.m.
MICHELLE FINES JOURNALIST
And a dispatch comes in saying,
"Bertrand Cantat got into an argument with Marie Trintignant."
"He pushed her. She fell and now she's in hospital."
That's it. So we don't know very much.
Even though at the time we don't really understand what's going on,
with a big music star and a movie star,
it's unprecedented.
There are two shocking things about this news.
The first is that no one knew
that Bertrand Cantat and Marie Trintignant are together.
And the second shock is
that something very serious has gone on between them
and Marie Trintignant is in a coma.
The first question I ask myself is, "What could have happened?"
"What might Bertrand Cantat have done
to put Marie Trintignant in the hospital in a coma?"
And I want to know how things got to that point.
So, the editors decide to send me to Vilnius.
While waiting to interview Bertrand Cantat,
the judge will try to question a key witness,
a Lithuanian man who worked on the film
and who was the last person
to see Bertrand Cantat and Marie Trintignant together.
When I get to Vilnius,
Bertrand Cantat is in custody.
All the French press is there.
There are cameras and photographers everywhere.
Then I see Bertrand Cantat, who looks like a hunted animal.
He looks devastated. He looks exhausted.
And I say to myself, "He looks out of place in handcuffs."
"This isn't possible. It's completely unreal."
Because Bertrand Cantat is a great singer who everyone loves.
I love him.
He's the leader of Noir Désir. He's a huge star.
Noir Dés', it's obvious.
FORMER TOUR MANAGER OF NOIR DÉSIR
I organized their concerts for years. They were a huge success everywhere.
They headlined everywhere.
So… Noir Désir was the biggest French rock group.
They played festivals in front of 80,000 people.
It's crazy.
They're everywhere.
It was awesome.
A million albums sold isn't luck.
PASCAL NÈGRE FORMER CEO OF UNIVERSAL MUSIC FRANCE
Johnny didn't sell a million albums at that time.
So, I'm sorry, but it was humungous.
Rock album of the year?
Des visages des figures, Noir Désir!
Noir Désir is clearly one of the biggest artists on the label in terms of sales.
-You take care of them, then? -Yes, you're nice, you're polite.
And Bertrand is… He has a lot of fucking charisma.
The band Noir Désir was thought of as four people,
but in the end, the one who made the final decision was Bertrand Cantat.
He overshadows everyone.
Great guy, handsome, like this, well-built.
There was a violence to him on stage.
Like Jim Morrison, he was a tortured soul.
Above all, Bertrand is a great writer, so… And a poet.
We need to spread the word.
He knew how to write songs.
It needs to be shared with you.
Very politically active.
We'd like to make the most of being here by telling you what we think
of the National Front and those who paved the way for it.
And then he'd sing for free at factories on strike.
So, he was really committed.
We believe that unbridled liberalism inevitably produces exclusion and poverty,
and the rise of fascism.
Le Pen! Fuck you!
Marie is also a huge star.
She's part of a large film family.
Marie Trintignant.
Marie is a friend
who I love deeply,
because she's generous, tender, always beautiful and poetic.
Right at the start I said to myself,
"She's going to be my best friend…"
A FILM BY BERNIE BONVOISIN
There are people who are very good, and then there are people who have grace.
You could film her among 100 people, and she'd always stand out.
My relationship with Marie was professional at first.
She demanded a lot of herself.
Mom!
And at the same time, she was a very loving mother.
A real mother hen.
From what I saw,
her day-to-day life was split between her job and her children.
She'd pick up her children from school still in an evening dress.
She has four sons, from four different fathers.
Four is a lot.
But your heart isn't split, your heart grows.
The last time that I had lunch with her, she came with her son on her shoulders.
So, that's… There was a thing…
She had a bit of the Italian mamma thing, I think.
Very generous… She was very free-spirited.
But everything was intense for Marie.
She's a very full person and very, very passionate.
And I think that's why she falls under Bertrand Cantat's spell.
2002 1 YEAR BEFORE THE EVENT
At the time, Marie is still living with Samuel Benchetrit,
the director with whom she was preparing Janis and John.
JANIS AND JOHN A FILM BY SAMUEL BENCHETRIT
I think that, at first,
she tries to imitate, to take the position, like…
See? Try to find the position that really makes you a singer.
Janis…
Joplin.
To prepare for the role of Janis…
she wants to see someone on stage who has the intensity of a Janis Joplin.
That's how she ended up going.
Marie Trintignant came with…
I can no longer remember with whom, some friends, to see the concert.
And, at the end of the concert, she asked to see Bertrand Cantat.
We took them to the dressing rooms, and…
that's how it happened.
When he saw her, it clicked.
It was love at first sight. I wasn't the only one who noticed.
When Marie sees Noir Désir on stage,
she is completely captivated
by Cantat.
I remember very well. She was…
a little bit mysterious.
She said, "Yes, it's difficult because I'm in a relationship and all, but…
it's great."
When Marie and Bertrand are together, it's a wonderful relationship.
They're two beautiful people, with an aura, something that is beyond us.
It was a bit like when Johnny Depp got together with Vanessa Paradis,
we want to believe it.
And when Marie talked to me
about her separation with Samuel Benchetrit,
I think she felt they were strong enough to stay good friends.
And for Marie, that was…
ideal.
It was more difficult for Bertrand.
Because Kristina, who was Bertrand's wife, was pregnant.
And he told her at the clinic…
He told her, "I'm leaving," even though she had just given birth.
So it was a bit of a strange situation.
He left her for someone else,
but Kristina was still madly in love with him.
The separation was, for me, immeasurably painful.
KRISTINA RADY BERTRAND CANTAT'S WIFE
But it was done in a loyal and respectful way.
Following that, I think she was really very sad.
It was a hard time, yeah.
And if I had known at the time what I know now…
I would have been more useful.
JULY 27, 2003
MARIE TRINTIGNANT IS TAKEN TO VILNIUS HOSPITAL IN A COMA
I am the father…
MARIE TRINTIGNANT'S EX-PARTNER
…of one of Marie Trintignant's sons.
When I went to the hospital,
she was in a terrible state.
It normally only happens to other people.
But this time I was "other people." I mean, we were.
I knew her face very well.
It was very swollen.
Lots of different colors, purples, blues and everything.
I was there trying to understand,
to see what had happened and I…
It was…
a nightmare.
A real nightmare.
There isn't much to go on at the start.
I have a lot of questions. I want to know what happened.
Everyone wants to know what happened.
WE WEREN'T THERE. WHAT HAPPENED?
At the time, social media didn't exist.
But on music or film blogs, discussion is rife.
IT'S INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
WHAT!?
When I read these comments,
I realize that people are as worried about Marie Trintignant's health
as they are for the future of Noir Désir.
END OF A LEGENDARY BAND?
I WON'T LIKE NOIR DÉSIR ANY LESS FOR IT
SUCH A SHAME FOR THE BAND
And one of the important stages of this investigation
is Bertrand Cantat's hearing.
It's important because,
at this time, we have no idea what happened in room 35,
the room where the tragedy took place.
And we expect Bertrand Cantat to tell us what happened.
Bertrand Cantat, do you have a lot of things to say?
It's the first time. He hasn't said anything up to that point.
The first question,
how long have you been in Vilnius?
When did you come here?
We arrived in Vilnius on the 24th or 25th of May.
-May? -Something like that. In May.
Marie is an actress. She'd been here since filming started in Lithuania.
MAY 2003
BERTRAND CANTAT JOINS MARIE TRINTIGNANT IN LITHUANIA
Every day, I drove Marie and Bertrand from the hotel to the set.
ANDRIUS LELIUGA ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
They were always together.
And I'd see them holding hands.
They'd kiss and they'd go for walks.
Sometimes, they'd shut themselves in the trailer.
It's not normal for a partner to stay throughout filming.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Filming that goes on for two months.
It's strange, yes. Very strange.
It seemed clear to me that the singer didn't want to leave her
alone with a crew, far from him.
That's what I felt.
-Marie! -Yeah?
Come here, sweetheart.
Of course, we feel he's quite possessive.
But the Trintignant family is a very close-knit team.
The shoot is out of the ordinary.
Vincent Trintignant is there, Marie's brother,
who is the assistant director, who is assisting his mother,
Nadine Trintignant, the director.
Roman Kolinka, Marie's son, is also there,
playing a very big role in the project.
You go towards them.
You go towards him. Surround him. Here.
It was clear that Nadine Trintignant wasn't happy
that Bertrand Cantat is there for every day of filming.
Because, of course, he's taking up Marie's time.
The role was huge.
She was there with her script the whole time I was doing her makeup.
And even then, he'd come into makeup to talk to her.
That was always stressful because he was an anxious person,
and Marie told him to leave because he bothered me.
And it's true, he did bother me.
What's more important than music for you?
And when I stayed at the apartment,
when Marie was on set,
we'd send each other texts as often as we could.
Messages on our phones.
Constantly, all day long.
So, where were we?
-Are you going to put away your phone? -Yeah, I'll put it in my pocket.
Here we go, boys and girls.
I can see that she's texting on her phone.
And I knew that Marie was very occupied with that, yeah.
When I arrived in Vilnius,
they'd already been filming for a good month.
And I remember seeing Marie
put her phone in her boot on vibrate
so she wouldn't miss a call from Bertrand.
And when I saw Marie with her phone,
winking at me and ruining a scene
so they'd stop filming and she could go call him…
I had a whole day of that.
It was crazy.
I think that the singer wanted to keep an eye on her
and isolate her from her friends on set.
Because Bertrand is a jealous, possessive and exclusive man.
Even in Paris,
I remember that he had complete control of Marie's time,
of her mental space.
She's no longer available.
Even when she wants to be.
So, whenever we agree to meet, it would always get canceled.
How did I become aware of Cantat's possessive and jealous side and all that?
Honestly, one time, I was having lunch…
Now and again we'd have lunch together,
which was normal with Marie because we have a son together.
So it's normal for us to see each other.
And…
While we-- While Marie and I were having lunch, he calls her,
and Marie says to me, "It's crazy. He's incredibly jealous."
"He always wants to know where I am and what I'm doing."
And then, in Vilnius, during filming, there was this message.
Action!
And that's when the tragedy happened.
THE DAY OF THE TRAGEDY
On that day,
there was a message from Samuel, so, Benchetrit, her husband.
A text message.
The message was about services to be rendered
for the promotion of the film they had made together
called Janis and John.
Marie showed it to me.
There was a sort of phrase that I'd say was tender.
CALL ME WHEN YOU CAN, JUST ABOUT THE FILM.
LOTS OF LOVE, MY LITTLE JANIS
So, I felt then that there was an imbalance
between the relationship, on the one hand,
between Marie and Samuel,
and on the other, for what I had just done
and how I had behaved and what I had said to Kristina.
In fact, when Bertrand Cantat met Marie Trintignant,
he was with the mother of his two children, Kristina Rady.
He cut all ties with her and said he'd left it all for Marie Trintignant.
I'd made things clear.
There was no ambivalence about my relationships with Kristina.
And so this text from Samuel, there was something that he…
It wasn't right. I didn't agree with it.
In fact, Bertrand Cantat reproaches Marie Trintignant
for still having a relationship with Samuel Benchetrit
and for not leaving everything for him.
And this text will drive him crazy with jealousy.
And this will be the start of the dispute.
But the dispute starts slowly.
3 HOURS BEFORE THE TRAGEDY
At the end of the day, after filming,
a cocktail party is organized because one of the actors is leaving.
During the party, I noticed that Marie was a bit stressed,
a bit different than she usually was.
And I saw Marie and Bertrand from a distance, arguing.
I saw from their hands and their gestures that they were arguing.
I didn't want to let them go home alone, just the two of them.
2 HOURS BEFORE THE TRAGEDY
We went to my place around 10:00 p.m.
They smoked some joints.
We had a few drinks, small glasses of vodka.
And there, he asks Marie questions,
and because she's never answering,
he gets annoyed.
He grabs Marie by the shoulders and pins her against the wall.
I was completely shocked.
When I see that, I say, "That's enough."
"Get your things, we're leaving the apartment."
I wanted to calm them down.
I took Marie's hand and Bertrand's hand.
It was like I was walking with them like children.
And we left like that.
1 HOUR BEFORE THE TRAGEDY
I leave them at the hotel door.
We say good night.
Marie said, "Get home safe," or, "Have fun," or something like that.
I thought Bertrand had calmed down.
I left them.
I thought everything was okay.
So, Andrius Leliuga, the assistant,
takes them to the hotel door and leaves them there.
But what happened in room 35 at that time?
Well, Bertrand Cantat will give us his version of events.
So you arrived at the apartment.
What happened after that,
when you arrived?
When we arrived at the apartment, I don't know, ten minutes had passed,
nothing special.
Then, and this was my big mistake,
I asked her the question again.
The same question, again, which was of course…
which I kept thinking about,
about this imbalance that I spoke about earlier.
Of this unfairness between, on the one hand, the relationship
between Marie and Samuel, and on the other, me and Kristina.
And from there, things got heated.
She kept shouting,
"Go see your wife."
The whole time. She didn't stop.
She grabbed me,
and then she punched me in the face.
And she pushed me backwards.
And from there,
I saw red.
I flew into a rage.
We have a lot of colors for that in France.
I saw red, but I went into a black anger.
And from there, I slapped her.
I felt like it was something like a double…
Like a back-and-forth.
A back-and-forth.
And then I grabbed Marie here, by the collar.
And I wanted to throw her on the sofa.
But I missed.
When I threw her on the sofa,
she landed like this, on the edge of the sofa on her stomach,
and then she fell on the ground.
When she fell, did she perhaps bang her head
on the sofa, on the…
I don't know.
I don't know how she landed.
I threw her away from me, and I left…
See what I mean? A movement like this, and then I turned around.
I assure you, the next time something like this happens to me,
I'll take notes.
No, but it's awful.
I'm trying to be funny, because…
"It was a fight between two people
that resulted in an accident."
You need to sign.
At the end of Bertrand Cantat's hearing, the theory is that it was an accident.
Because based on what he's told us, it was an accident.
He pushed her, she fell, and she hit her head.
And so, for everyone,
the main hypothesis is that it was an accident.
AN ACCIDENT
And I believed what he told us at the time.
FELL ON HER HEAD
I believed that version too.
THE ACCIDENT
And when you look through the papers,
the word that comes up all the time is "accident."
The accident is said to be linked to a fight with her partner, Cantat,
the singer of Noir Désir.
At that time, no one doubted it. Least of all the fans.
I HOPE MARIE GETS OUT OF THE COMA HORRIBLE ACCIDENT!
IT'S CRAZY!
Following a bad fall, Marie is now in a coma.
HE PUSHED HER, SHE FELL. IN A COMA. WOW!
WHAT A TRAGEDY. LET'S HOPE NOIR DÉSIR CAN KEEP GOING…
Marie Trintignant was thrown to the ground.
Some people are talking about a fight.
I HOPE MARIE GETS BETTER SOON.
Marie Trintignant is said to have fallen and hit her head.
…against a radiator.
IT'S HORRIBLE. SHE FELL AGAINST A RADIATOR.
He pushed her hard, she hit the radiator, and that's exactly what happened.
Exactly that. There was no more to it than that.
It was an accident. Yes.
So, yeah…
What more do you want me to say? Nothing.
Yeah, I heard that she had hit her head against a radiator.
Maybe the radiator came towards her, I don't know.
We'll have to ask the radiator.
But…
No, it's…
You can say anything you want. He can say whatever he wants.
We still don't know if we have the truth.
Because we only have one truth.
We only have Cantat's truth.
We'll never have Marie Trintignant's truth.
Because she's still in the coma.
MARIE TRINTIGNANT ANOTHER OPERATION
At that time, I still believe that we can save Marie.
Clearly, we still have a glimmer of hope, we thought, "It's not possible."
I believe it.
But Bertrand's loved ones are worried, because they don't know what will happen.
The members of Noir Désir all arrived on a special flight.
Then there's Bertrand Cantat's ex-wife, Kristina Rady.
Bertrand!
She's still alive.
-No. -She's still alive.
-No, I'm telling you. -She's still alive, Bertrand, I know it.
MARIE TRINTIGNANT'S CONDITION DOESN'T IMPROVE.
NEW MEASURES ARE TAKEN TO SAVE HER.
You dogs!
MARIE TRINTIGNANT REPATRIATED TO FRANCE
Marie Trintignant is now in a hospital in France.
A medical aircraft took her from Lithuania at the request of her family.
The surgeon who operated on her was categorical:
Marie Trintignant is in an irreversible coma
with an EEG that's completely flat.
There was nothing they could do.
Ms. Marie Trintignant…
STÉPHANE DELAJOUX NEUROSURGEON
…died this morning at 10:20,
from a cerebral edema…
despite efforts made to revive her
since her arrival at the Hartmann clinic.
Thank you.
Marie Trintignant is dead.
The announcement came late this morning.
The actress, who was transported from Vilnius last night…
I don't understand.
It's unbelievable.
Everyone died a little.
And what really touched me was the people who showed up.
There was a crowd.
She really was a woman
who was magnificent and gave me a lot of hope.
Among all these letters, one sentence stood out to me.
I remember that Jean-Louis Trintignant read an absolutely
amazing text that a woman had written him.
"Don't cry…
JEAN-LOUIS TRINTIGNANT MARIE TRINTIGNANT'S FATHER
…for the one you lost."
"On the contrary,
be happy that you knew her."
Sorry.
I'll never forget.
When Jean-Louis Trintignant burst into tears,
that was really something.
And I saw the children.
I never stopped asking myself what I could do…
so that my son…
would suffer as little as possible.
And it's not easy.
It's really not easy.
Criminal investigations are based on doubt.
So we have doubts about everything.
JÉRÔME BONET FORMER HEAD OF THE CRIME SQUAD
At this stage, our only concern is establishing what happened.
That's our only job.
We have a corpse in front of us.
We want facts, we want evidence,
and especially the autopsy, which was done very quickly.
Everyone is waiting for the autopsy report.
We want to know if the accident story that Bertrand Cantat told holds true,
or if he has something to hide.
FORENSIC INSTITUTE
It's hard to forget such high-profile cases.
BERNARD MARC HEAD OF FORENSICS
The autopsy was carried out on August 2nd, one day after Marie Trintignant's death.
The description is that of a young woman,
average build, 1.66 meters tall, 60 kilograms.
BODY OF A WOMAN 1.66 METERS, WEIGHT 60 KG
The external examination showed a lot of lesions.
Scalp lesions,
facial lesions,
and there was evidence of an open fracture of the nose.
Behind the larynx, we found bruising, possibly caused by someone straddling,
who put their leg on the neck of the person beneath them.
When we opened her skull,
we found that the violence of the blows must have been extreme.
There are too many lesions for them to have been caused by a fall.
There are lesions involving intracerebral damage
and intracerebral bleeding and a huge hematoma.
All of this excludes a single traumatic event to the head.
There were at least 15, 20 blows received.
There are many of them.
The blows can't have been landed in a few seconds.
There was a sequence
and things that would have taken several minutes.
They were repeated blows.
There were successive blows that were dealt from the left and right.
CASE: MARIE TRINTIGNANT FORENSIC REPORT
So this autopsy clearly shows us
that it was not an accidental fall that led to her death.
Bertrand Cantat is said to have lied.
This is what we're led to believe by the definitive autopsy report
of Marie Trintignant.
The story of a fall on a radiator caused by the singer is not true.
The Lithuanian courts have reclassified Bertrand Cantat's prosecution as murder.
From here, the rest of the story will be totally different.
Bertrand Cantat has now been charged with murder.
-Murder. -Murder.