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[tense music playing]
VILNIUS LITHUANIA
JULY 27, 2003
[beep]
-[woman] Go ahead. -[man 1] You there?
[man 2] We just received a message. It just came to us from the hospital.
-[beep] -[man 1] About what? What's happened?
[man 2] They said a woman has been transported there from a nearby hotel.
And she's in intensive care now.
They said she's in critical condition.
POLICE
-[man 2] Her partner beat her up. -[siren blaring]
[man 2] So we'll arrest him.
[man 1] He's French, though.
[reporter 1] Bertrand Cantat, the lead singer of the band Noir Désir,
is accused of assaulting his partner in Vilnius, Lithuania.
[reporter 2] He has been placed in custody,
and he faces three to 15 years in prison.
Actress Marie Trintignant is currently fighting for her life in the hospital.
[reporter 3] Was the couple under the influence of alcohol or drugs?
[reporter 2] What happened between 3:00 and 5:00 in the morning?
JOURNALIST AT LE POINT MAGAZINE
A news story of this size, involving two big celebrities,
was unheard of in France.
It was a shock to the media.
[suspenseful music playing]
Bertrand Cantat…
Marie Trintignant…
[reporter 2] Trintignant is between life and death.
[reporter 3] What happened in that hotel in Vilnius
from Saturday night into early Sunday?
What could Bertrand Cantat have possibly done
to put Marie Trintignant in a coma in the hospital?
-[audience cheering] -[rock music playing]
What's more important to you than music?
My love.
The girl I love.
Bertrand was jealous, possessive, and alienating.
Could it have been an accident? Maybe a fight that went too far?
It was an accident, yeah.
But we were so far from the truth.
She punched me right in the face. She hit me.
It is unlikely to think that this small, young woman
could have pushed him to the ground, this big guy, who's a real athlete,
about 1.9 meters tall and weighing 85 kilos.
[woman] We only have one side of the story.
Cantat's version of the truth…
[mic feedback]
[reporter 1] There's still so much silence,
so many people who are scared to speak out.
[line calling]
[woman] I have my own problems.
[man, distorted] No, I won't talk.
[reporter 2] This story shook up and divided France.
It was really something to see him perform again.
Fuck off! Fuck off! Fuck off!
Personally, what I would have loved
would be to never hear about this guy again.
[shocking music playing]
We were crazy about each other. I said to her, "Our love's too strong."
You're all animals.
It's not possible. It seems so unreal.
[woman] Bertrand, she's still alive!
Today, this story has to finally be told the way it actually happened.
[music ends]
FROM ROCK STAR TO KILLER
EPISODE 1 JUST AN ACCIDENT?
[van beeping]
-Please. -Out of our way. Step aside.
[reporter] Bertrand, is there anything you would like to say on your behalf?
[camera shutters clicking]
[suspenseful music playing]
AUGUST 8, 2003 BERTRAND CANTAT'S HEARING
THESE IMAGES WERE RECORDED BY THE LITHUANIAN COURT.
THEY WOULD USUALLY BE KEPT SECRET.
[clock ticking]
[Vladimir Sergevas] So, as I said to you all before,
this hearing is currently being filmed with a Panasonic camera.
[whirring]
[Sergevas] The suspect in question, Bertrand Bruno Lucien Cantat,
has already been notified
that he is suspected of intentionally beating Marie Trintignant
from the night of July 26th through the morning of July 27th in 2003.
[suspenseful music continues]
[reporter 1] Before we conclude this broadcast,
we'd like to recap our top story of the night.
[reporter 2] Actress Marie Trintignant is in a coma
following an argument with her partner Bertrand Cantat,
frontman of the band, Noir Désir.
It happened in Lithuania, while she was shooting a TV movie.
[tense music playing]
[Michelle Fines] At the time, I'd been a journalist for ten years,
specializing in police affairs and legal cases.
PRESS 2003
And that day, I must have just arrived in the newsroom.
It was about 9:15.
JOURNALIST
[Fines] And that's when a report came in, and said,
"Bertrand Cantat got into a dispute with Marie Trintignant."
"He pushed her down, and now she's in the hospital."
That's all. So we didn't know very much.
[tense music playing]
Even though, at the time, we didn't fully understand what was going on,
the fact that it involved a big star in the music world
and a movie star, was unheard of to me.
-[clicks] -[music continues]
There were two things about the story that were shocking.
First of all,
no one knew that Bertrand Cantat and Marie Trintignant were even together.
And the second shock was that something very serious had gone on between them,
and Marie Trintignant was in a coma.
The first question that I asked myself was, "What could have happened?"
"What could Bertrand Cantat have possibly done
to put Marie Trintignant in a coma in the hospital?"
I just wanted to know how things could've gotten to that point.
[tense music continues]
[Fines] So, the editorial team decided to send me to Vilnius.
[Fines, in 2003] While waiting to question the suspect, Bertrand Cantat,
the investigating judge will try to interview a key witness.
A Lithuanian man who worked on the film was the last person to see them together,
Bertrand Cantat and Marie Trintignant.
When I got to Vilnius, Bertrand Cantat was in custody.
POLICE
[camera shutters clicking]
[Fines] All of the French press was there.
There were cameras and photographers everywhere.
[tense music playing]
Then I saw Bertrand Cantat. He looked like a hunted animal.
He looked devastated, and he looked exhausted.
I thought to myself, "He looks out of place with handcuffs on."
"It's not possible." It seemed so unreal.
Because Bertrand Cantat was this great singer who everyone loved.
He was the lead singer of Noir Désir. He was a huge star.
[man] Noir Désir was unparalleled.
FORMER NOIR DÉSIR TOUR MANAGER
I organized their concerts for years.
They were a huge success everywhere. They headlined everywhere.
[crowd cheering]
So, at the time, Noir Désir was the biggest French rock group.
[crowd cheering]
They played shows in front of 80,000 people.
[muffled rock music playing]
[Revert] It was crazy.
Their fame was so widespread.
They were icons. [chuckles]
You don't sell a million albums by chance.
FORMER CEO OF UNIVERSAL MUSIC FRANCE
Johnny Hallyday wasn't selling a million albums.
So our success with them was massive.
Rock album of the year?
Okay.
Des visages des figures, Noir Désir!
[applause]
Noir Désir was clearly one of the label's biggest artists.
Based on sales.
-[reporter] So they were treated well? -Sure, you act nice, you act polite.
And Bertrand was just… Well, he has a shit ton of charisma.
[dramatic music playing]
[Revert] In the group Noir Désir, they thought as four,
but in the end, there was one who made the final decision,
Bertrand Cantat.
He overshadowed everyone.
[music continues]
Tall guy, handsome. Like this. He was well-built.
He had this violence about him on stage.
Like Jim Morrison, he was a tortured soul.
[music fades]
Above all, Bertrand was a great writer. And so, he was like a poet.
We need to get up here and spread the word.
-[Revert] He knew how to write songs. -This message needs to be shared with all.
He was very politically active.
We'd like to make the most of being here by telling you what we think
of the National Front far-right political party
and those who paved the way for it.
And then he would sing for free at factories that were on strike.
So, he was… he was really committed.
Our belief is that uncontrolled liberalism produces…
It inevitably produces exclusion and poverty,
and the rise of fascism.
Le Pen! Le Pen! Fuck you! Fuck you!
[music fades]
[Lio] Marie was also a very big star.
She was part of a large film industry family.
[electropop music playing]
[man] Marie Trintignant.
I was friends with Marie…
ACTRESS AND FRIEND OF MARIE
…and I loved her deeply
because she was generous, and she was sweet,
always beautiful and poetic.
From the start, I said to myself,
"This person is going to be my best friend forever."
A FILM BY BERNIE BONVOISIN
DIRECTOR AND FRIEND
There are people who are good, and there are those who have grace.
[heartbeat]
On a shoot, you could film her in the middle of 100 people,
and she'd always stand out.
MAKE-UP ARTIST
The first time I met Marie was through work.
She demanded a lot of herself.
[Tassel] And yet, at the same time, as a mother, she was very loving.
Like a mother hen.
From what I could see, it seemed like her day-to-day life was divided
between really her job and her children.
She'd go pick up her children from school while still wearing a fancy dress.
She had four sons from four different fathers.
Four is a lot. [chuckles]
But you don't have to make room in your heart. Your heart just grows.
The last time that I had lunch with her, she came in with her son.
He was on her shoulders. And so, there was something…
She had a bit of the Italian mamma thing going on.
She had an enormous amount of generosity, and she was very free-spirited.
[Lio] But everything was intense for Marie.
She was a person who was full of life, but also very passionate.
And I think that's the reason why she ended up falling
under the spell of Bertrand Cantat.
1 YEAR BEFORE THE EVENT
Marie, at the time, was still living with Samuel Benchetrit,
the director that she was working with while preparing for Janis and John.
A FILM BY SAMUEL BENCHETRIT
[man] I think that at first,
you should try to imitate, take on her position, like…
You see? Try to find the position that makes you a singer.
Janis
Joplin.
[Lio] To prepare for the role of Janis…
[shouts imitating Janis Joplin] Wow, babe!
…she wanted to see someone who performed on stage
with the same intensity as Janis Joplin.
[microphone feedback]
That's what brought her to him.
Marie Trintignant, she came with…
I can't remember. Some friends? I don't know.
Well, they went to the concert.
And the one thing she asked was that at the end of the show,
she could see Bertrand Cantat.
[muffled crowd cheering]
We quietly brought them back to the dressing rooms,
and that's how it happened.
When he saw her, it just clicked.
Love at first sight. There it was.
Others saw it too.
[chuckles]
[unsettling music playing]
[Lio] Marie, when she saw Noir Désir on stage,
she was completely transfixed
by Cantat.
[melancholy music playing]
[Lio] I remember very well.
She was
acting a little bit mysterious.
She said, "Yeah, it's difficult because I…"
"I'm already in a relationship and everything but…"
"It's amazing."
When Marie and Bertrand were together, it was a wonderful relationship.
They were already two beautiful people,
with these auras that seemed otherworldly.
It was a bit like when Johnny Depp got together with Vanessa Paradis.
You wanted to root for it.
And when Marie spoke with me
about her separation from Samuel Benchetrit,
I think she genuinely felt the two of them
had a strong enough foundation for them to remain good friends.
And for Marie, it was…
That was ideal.
[unsettling music playing]
[Revert] It was more difficult for Bertrand.
Because Kristina, who was Bertrand's wife, she was pregnant.
And he told her at the clinic.
He said to her, "That's it. I'm leaving."
She had just given birth.
So, it was really a bit of a strange situation.
He left her for someone else,
but Kristina was still madly in love with him in spite of it all.
The separation from him…
BERTRAND CANTAT'S WIFE
…from my perspective, it was excruciatingly painful.
But it was still done in a loyal and respectful manner.
Well…
Following that, I think she was… she was unbelievably sad.
It was a tough time, yeah.
[tense music playing]
And if I had known, at that time, what I know today…
I could've been more helpful.
JULY 27, 2003
MARIE TRINTIGNANT IS TAKEN TO VILNIUS HOSPITAL IN A COMA.
[siren blaring]
[suspenseful music playing]
[heart monitor beeps slowly]
I am the father of…
MARIE TRINTIGNANT'S EX-PARTNER
…one of Marie Trintignant's sons.
From the very first moment that I got to the hospital,
she was in a terrible state.
[beeping continues]
You think it can only happen to other people.
But this time, I was those other people. I mean, we were.
[melancholy music playing]
I knew her face perhaps better than anyone,
and it was very swollen.
So many different colors.
Purples, blues, everything. Yeah.
[music continues]
[beeping continues]
[Kolinka] I was there just trying to…
to understand or
find out facts and see what had happened.
I just felt like…
I was in a nightmare.
A nightmare.
-[brooding music playing] -[camera shutters clicking]
[Fines] We didn't know much at the start.
I had a lot of questions at that time. I wanted to know what happened.
In reality, everybody wanted answers.
WE WEREN'T THERE. WHAT HAPPENED?
[Jahn] At the time, social media didn't exist.
But on blogs that specialized in film or in music,
discussions were heating up.
IT'S INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
WHAT!?
When I read those comments,
I realized that people were just as worried
about Marie Trintignant's health, as they were 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 stages that was the most important for this investigation
was the official hearing for Bertrand Cantat.
[intriguing music playing]
[Fines] It was most important because
we had no idea what had happened at that point in time in room 35,
the room where the tragedy took place.
[music fades]
And we expected Bertrand Cantat to tell us what had happened.
-Please. -Coming through.
[reporter] Bertrand, is there anything you would like to say on your behalf?
It was the first time. He hadn't spoken until then.
[music intensifies]
[silence]
[woman] For the first question, how long have you been here in Vilnius?
Meaning, what was the date when you arrived here?
We first arrived in Vilnius on the 24th or 25th of May.
-[woman] May? -Something like that. Yeah, in May.
Marie is an actress. She came to start shooting in Lithuania.
MAY 2003
BERTRAND CANTAT JOINS MARIE TRINTIGNANT IN LITHUANIA
[unsettling music playing]
[man] Every day, I would drive Marie and Bertrand
from the hotel, down to the set.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
The whole time, they were always together.
Usually when I saw them, they'd be holding hands.
I'd often see them kiss and go for walks.
Sometimes, they'd lock themselves in the trailer.
[intriguing music builds]
It wasn't common for a partner to stay for an entire shoot.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Especially a two-month shoot.
It was strange. Very strange.
[intriguing music continues]
[Catonné] It seemed obvious to me that the singer wasn't willing to
leave her alone with anyone from the crew, away from him.
That's what I felt.
-[woman] Marie! -Yeah?
[woman] Come here, sweetheart.
[Catonné] Of course, we felt like he was quite possessive.
But the Trintignant family was a very close-knit team.
The shoot was already an unusual situation to begin with.
Marie's brother, Vincent Trintignant, was there,
and he was the assistant director, who was working with his mother,
Nadine Trintignant,
who was the director.
Then there's Roman Kolinka, who is Marie's son.
He was also playing a very big role in this project.
-Over here. We'll set up from this angle. -You should be the one to go to him.
You go towards him, and you surround him.
-There. -Sound good?
It was clear that Nadine Trintignant was not happy
that Bertrand Cantat spent every single day on set with them.
[intriguing music playing]
Because, of course, he was taking up all of Marie's time and focus.
[Agnès] The role itself was a huge undertaking.
She always had her script with her while I was doing her makeup.
The whole time.
And even then,
he'd come to the makeup room to talk to her.
[intriguing music continues]
That was always a very stressful situation because he was a nervous person.
Marie told him to leave,
and she said it was because he bothered me.
And it's true, he did bother me.
[music fades]
[birds chirping]
-What's more important to you than music? -[Cantat] My love.
The girl I love.
[unsettling music playing]
Yeah. There's nothing except the girl I love.
[music ends]
-[Cantat] When I stayed at the apartment… -[woman] Mm-hm.
…and while Marie was on set,
we would both send each other lots of messages through texts.
You know, messages on our phones.
Constantly, all day long.
[clock ticking]
[Marie] All right then, where were we? Huh?
Are you going to put your phone down?
-Of course, I'll put it in my pocket. -[chuckles]
-All right, let's go then. -Okay.
[Catonné] I could see that she was typing on her phone.
And I knew that Marie was very preoccupied with that, yeah.
When I arrived in Vilnius,
they had already been filming there for a good month.
And I remember…
I saw Marie putting her cellphone in her boot, on vibrate,
so that there was no chance of her missing a call from Bertrand.
[cellphone buzzing]
[Lio] I remember seeing Marie standing there holding her phone,
winking at me and missing a scene,
so they'd cut right away so she could call him.
[scoffs]
I experienced a whole day of that.
It was nuts.
[intriguing music continues]
[cellphone beeping]
[Catonné] I think that the singer, he wanted to keep an eye on her
and also separate her
from all of the friends that she had on set.
Because Bertrand is a man who is jealous, possessive, and alienating.
Even when they were in Paris, I remember this takeover.
He took complete control of Marie's time, of her mental space.
Suddenly, she stopped being available.
Even when she wanted to be.
For example, when we set a time to meet, it would always get canceled.
[Kolinka] Cantat…
How did I become aware of his possessive and jealous side and all that?
Frankly, one time, we were having lunch,
because now and then we'd have lunch together.
That was normal with Marie because we had a son together.
So it was normal for us to see each other.
And…
while we were…
when… when Marie and I were having lunch, he called her,
and Marie said 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.
[Nadine] Roll camera.
-[director] Action! -[clap]
And that's when tragedy struck.
At that moment.
[unsettling music playing]
THE DAY OF THE TRAGEDY
[Cantat] On that day,
there was a message from Samuel. From Samuel Benchetrit,
who, as you know, is still her husband.
A text message.
The message was about settling outstanding payments
for the promotion of the film that they had made together
called Janis and John.
-Marie showed it to me. -[woman] Mm-hmm.
There was a phrase in there that I would describe as tender.
[beeping]
CALL ME WHEN YOU CAN, JUST ABOUT THE FILM.
LOTS OF LOVE, MY LITTLE JANIS
[Cantat] So, I felt then that there was sort of this imbalance
between their relationship, on the one hand,
between Marie and Samuel,
as opposed to my previous relationship,
and how I had behaved and the way that I spoke to Kristina.
[music continues]
[Fines] In fact, Bertrand Cantat,
when he met Marie Trintignant,
he was still with the mother of his two children.
Her name is Kristina Rady.
He cut all ties with her
and said that he left everything behind for Marie Trintignant.
[Cantat] I'd made things very clear.
There wasn't even the slightest ambiguity about any romance
between me and Kristina.
And so, this text message that she received from Samuel,
he wrote something that just wasn't right. I didn't agree with it.
[unsettling sting]
Actually, Bertrand Cantat had criticized Marie Trintignant
for still having a relationship with Samuel Benchetrit
and for not cutting him off entirely.
So this text drove him crazy with jealousy.
And it was this incident that really started their dispute.
[suspenseful music playing]
But the argument, it started slowly.
3 HOURS BEFORE THE TRAGEDY
[Fines] At the end of that day, after they finished filming,
there was a cocktail party organized because an actor was leaving.
[Leliuga] During the party, I couldn't help but notice
that Marie was a bit stressed out.
She was really… not acting like herself.
And I could see from a distance that Marie and Bertrand
were having an argument.
[music continues]
I could tell from their hand movements and their gestures.
It was clear that they were arguing.
I didn't feel comfortable letting 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, shots of vodka.
And right there and then, he started asking Marie questions,
and Marie, well, she wouldn't give him any answers. None.
He got angry.
He grabbed Marie by the shoulders, and just like that,
he pinned her against the wall.
I was completely shocked.
So then, when I saw that, I said, "Okay, that's enough."
"Get it together." And then, all of us left the apartment.
I wanted them to calm down.
I took Marie by the hand, I took Bertrand by the hand.
I was basically walking with them like they were children.
And we left, just like that.
1 HOUR BEFORE THE TRAGEDY
[unsettling music playing]
[camera turning on]
[Leliuga] I left them at the door of the hotel.
We said good night, and Marie said to me,
"Get home safe" or "Have fun," or something like that.
Bertrand seemed like he was a little bit calmer.
I left them,
and I was under the impression that everything was fine.
[Fines] And so, Andrius Leliuga, the assistant,
he took them to the hotel door, and he left them there.
[clock ticking]
[ticking stops]
[Fines] But what could've really happened in room 35 in the moments that followed?
Well, Bertrand Cantat gave us his version of the events.
[interpreter] So, you arrived at the apartment.
What happened after that?
When you got there.
Well…
When we first arrived at the apartment,
I don't know, about ten minutes had passed,
nothing eventful happened.
Then, and this was a big mistake on my part,
I asked her that same question again.
The same question as before, you know? Which was just…
It obviously kept repeating over and over in my head.
It was about this imbalance that I spoke of earlier.
This imbalance between their relationship,
on the one hand, between Marie and Samuel,
and on the other, between me and Kristina.
And from there, tensions rose.
[music intensifies]
[Cantat] She kept shouting again and again,
"Go see your wife. Go see your wife. Go see your wife."
-The whole time, she-- -[interpreter translates]
She didn't stop the whole time.
She grabbed me and then she punched me right in the face.
And she… she pushed me back.
And from there, I… I saw red.
I just went into a complete rage.
We describe that with a lot of colors in France.
I saw red, but then I went black with anger.
And it was in that moment that I slapped her.
[music continues]
I felt like it was almost like doing doubles in tennis,
-going back and forth like a round-robin. -Back and forth, yeah.
-Like this. Tac, tac, tac, tac. -[interpreter translates]
And after that, I grabbed Marie here, by the collar.
And then, I was trying to push her away from me,
throw her down on the couch.
[violent blows, thud]
[glass clinking]
[Cantat] 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 to the ground.
When she fell, do you think that she might have banged her head
on the sofa, or…
I really don't know.
-[interpreter translates] -[judge] Mm-hm.
I don't know exactly how she landed.
I pushed her away from me, then I started to leave.
See what I mean? I went like this, and then I turned around.
[interpreter translates]
I assure you that the next time something like this happens to me,
I'll take detailed notes.
No, but it's awful. Really.
I… I'm trying to make light of it, because…
[tense music playing]
"It was a fight between two people
that resulted in an accident."
Sign here.
[ominous music playing]
[Fines] At the end of the hearing for Bertrand Cantat,
the theory was it was an accident.
[music continues]
Because, based on what he's told us so far,
it was an accident.
He pushed her, she fell down, and she hit her head.
And so, for everybody,
the story of the accident is the leading hypothesis.
AN ACCIDENT
Even I believed what he told us at the time.
FALL ON HER HEAD
I believed that story too.
THE ACCIDENT
And if you look to the press, the word that keeps coming up
is "accident," "accident," "accident," "accident."
The accident seems to be linked to a fight
with her partner, Bertrand Cantat, the singer of Noir Désir.
In fact, at the time, no one doubted it. Least of all the fans.
I HOPE MARIE GETS OUT OF THE COMA A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT!
IT'S CRAZY!
[reporter 1] Marie, who suffered a bad fall, is in a coma.
HE PUSHED HER, SHE FELL. IN A COMA. WOW!
WHAT A TRAGEDY. LET'S HOPE NOIR DÉSIR CAN KEEP GOING…
[reporter 2] Marie Trintignant was thrown to the ground.
Some sources mention a fight.
I HOPE MARIE GETS BETTER SOON.
[reporter 3] Trintignant is said to have fallen and banged her head…
[reporter 4] …against the living room radiator.
IT'S HORRIBLE. SHE FELL AGAINST A RADIATOR.
[music fades]
He pushed her too hard, then she fell on a radiator.
And that's exactly what happened. Exactly that. That's it.
There's no more to it than that.
It was an accident. Yeah.
So, there you go.
What more do you want me to say? Nothing.
Yes, I did hear that version. That she hit her head against a radiator.
Maybe the radiator came towards her, I don't know.
We'd have to ask the radiator.
But, well…
No, I mean, that's just…
You can say whatever you want. He can say anything.
In reality, we still don't know if we got the truth.
We just have one person's side.
We've only heard the truth from Cantat.
We don't have Marie Trintignant's truth.
Of course not. She's still in a coma.
[heart monitor beeps]
MARIE TRINTIGNANT ANOTHER OPERATION
[siren blaring]
[tense music playing]
[beeping continues]
[Lio] At that moment in time,
I still believed that we would be able to save Marie.
We kept holding on to that glimmer of hope.
We thought, "It's just not possible."
I kept believing.
But Bertrand's loved ones were especially worried
because they didn't know what would happen.
The band members of Noir Désir all arrived on a special flight.
And then after that, Bertrand Cantat's ex-wife arrived,
Kristina Rady.
[camera shutters clicking]
[Rady] Bertrand!
She's still alive.
-She is. She's still alive. -[Cantat] That's not true.
[Rady] No. She is alive, Bertrand. I know it.
[music fades]
MARIE TRINTIGNANT'S CONDITION DOES NOT IMPROVE.
NEW MEASURES ARE TAKEN TO SAVE HER.
[suspenseful music playing]
You're all animals!
[sirens blaring]
REPATRIATED TO FRANCE
[reporter 5] Marie Trintignant has now been hospitalized in France.
A medical aircraft took her there from Lithuania at the request of her family.
Although her surgeon was highly experienced,
Marie Trintignant is now in an irreversible coma
with an EEG that's completely flat.
Nothing could be done.
[tense music playing]
Ms. Marie Trintignant…
NEUROSURGEON
…died this morning at 10:20,
as a result of a cerebral edema
despite great efforts that were made to revive her
since she arrived here at the Hartmann clinic.
Thank you all.
[melancholy music playing]
Marie Trintignant has died.
The official announcement came in late this morning. [echoes]
The actress, who was transported from Vilnius last night…
I didn't understand.
It wasn't possible.
[church bells tolling]
[melancholy music continues]
[Lio] Everybody died a little that day.
But the thing that really touched me was the people.
The people who showed up for her like that.
There was a big crowd.
[woman] She represented a woman who was…
She was magnificent. She gave me a lot of hope.
[man] Among all of these letters, one sentence stood out to me.
I remember that Jean-Louis Trintignant read something that was absolutely…
amazing.
It was something that a woman had written to him.
"Don't you cry…
MARIE TRINTIGNANT'S FATHER
…for the one that you lost."
[sobbing]
"On the contrary,
be happy that you knew her."
[sobbing]
I'm sorry.
[applause]
[melancholy music continues]
[Lio] I'll never forget it.
When Jean-Louis Trintignant burst into tears,
that was really something.
And then I saw the children.
I never stopped asking myself what I could possibly do…
to make sure that my son…
suffered as little as possible.
And that's not easy.
It hasn't been easy.
[music ends]
[unsettling music playing]
[siren blaring]
[man 1] Criminal investigations are based on doubt.
So, you question everything.
FORMER HEAD OF THE CRIME SQUAD
At this stage, our only concern was establishing what happened.
That was our only job.
We had a body in front of us.
What were the factors? We wanted proof.
We wanted the autopsy, which was done quickly.
Everyone was waiting for the autopsy.
We wanted to know if the story of the accident
that Bertrand Cantat had told held true,
or if he had something to hide.
[tense music playing]
FORENSIC INSTITUTE
[music fades]
[man 2] It's hard to forget such high-profile cases.
HEAD OF FORENSICS
The autopsy was done on August second, one day after Marie Trintignant's death.
The description is that of a young woman with an average build,
1.66 meters tall, 60 kilos.
BODY OF A WOMAN 1.66 METERS, WEIGHT 60 KG
The external examination showed a number of lesions.
Lesions on her scalp, lesions on her face,
and there was evidence of an open nasal fracture.
Behind the larynx, we also found bruising,
possibly caused by someone pinning her down.
The bruises were consistent with a person's leg
pressing down 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 were too many injuries for them to have been caused by a fall.
We could see lesions involving intracerebral damage
and intracerebral bleeding and a significant hematoma.
This eliminated the possibility of a single traumatic event to the head.
There must have been at least 15 or 20 blows that were sustained.
There were a large number.
And they couldn't have happened in a few seconds.
There was a sequence of multiple blows that would have taken several minutes.
[camera shutter clicks]
They were repeated hits.
There were successive blows that were struck from the right and the left.
CASE: MARIE TRINTIGNANT FORENSIC REPORT
[Bonet] And so, this autopsy showed us
that clearly it was not an accidental fall that led to her death.
[reporter] Bertrand Cantat seems to have been lying.
This is what we are now led to believe based on the autopsy of Marie Trintignant.
The singer's account that she fell onto a radiator
has been disproven by the results.
The Lithuanian courts have now reclassified
Bertrand Cantat's prosecution as murder.
From there, the rest of the story would be completely different.
Bertrand Cantat has now been charged with murder.
-Murder. -Murder.
[voices echoing]
[unsettling music playing]
[music fades]