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   Abuse in spotlight after actress' death

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Topic: Abuse in spotlight after actress' death (Read 375 times)

Rhune
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Abuse in spotlight after actress' death
« on: Aug 20^th, 2003, 12:18pm »

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Abuse in spotlight after actress' death
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 Posted: 12:16 PM EDT (1616 GMT)

PARIS, France (Hollywood Reporter) -- French rock singer Bertrand Cantat's dark good looks have been staring out from the front page of French magazines and papers for the past two weeks.

But not because the band he fronts, Noir Desir, has released a new album. Cantat is in the spotlight because he is charged with giving his actress girlfriend, Marie Trintignant, a fatal beating.

It's no understatement to say the affair has shocked France. News of Trintignant's injuries and the circumstances surrounding the incident have blown the lid off one of the strongest taboos in French society. When she succumbed August 1 after five days in a coma, Trintignant instantly became a symbol of women victims of male violence. She was 41 and the mother of four children.

Cantat is in custody pending an investigation. He faces as many as 15 years in prison if convicted.

Amid the passions raised by the case, there has been much speculation about what happened in the early hours of July 27 in a hotel room in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where Trintignant was shooting a miniseries under the direction of her mother, Nadine. The exact details of the events leading up to the fatal injuries are the object of criminal investigations in Lithuania and France, but there seems little doubt that the couple had a violent row on that night.

The local media have since been filled with the testimony of women who have suffered at the hands of their partners and editorials denouncing the all-too-common phenomenon.

According to a government-commissioned report published last year, one French woman in 10 has been the victim of conjugal violence of some sort. On average, six women are killed every month by a husband or partner.

A national help-line for abused women has reported a sharp increase in calls since the Trintignant case hit the headlines. "If there's a positive dimension to this tragedy, it's the public denunciation of violence against women," an anonymous mourner said at Trintignant's funeral.

Musician 'had it all going for him'

Unsurprisingly, many have branded Cantat a monster; for them, his trial will only be a formality to confirm his manifest culpability. Others, notably fans of Noir Desir, simply say they fail to understand what kind of enraged passion can have pushed him into such behavior.

"This affair is beyond comprehension because Cantat had it all going for him; good looks, money and the world at his feet," a rock pundit said.

The shock was all the greater because Noir Desir do not have a wild reputation as hotel-wreckers living on the fringes of society. The band, whose last album sold more than 1 million copies in France, hails from the bourgeois French city of Bordeaux. Politically on the left, it has a long history of playing benefit shows and supporting causes, whether pro-Palestinian or against France's extreme-right Front National party. Cantat, a published poet had a broadly positive image and was seen as a role model by some fans, who find subtle meaning in his lyrics.

Trintignant was born into France's cinema establishment.

The daughter of actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, she made her screen debut at age 4 and starred in more than 50 movies and TV films. Despite her celebrity, she was a discreet, private person. Bertrand and Marie were not exactly Sid and Nancy.

Even after the full glare of the media spotlight has been thrown on their relationship, little is publicly known about the couple who are believed to have gotten together about six months ago. In an effort to understand their rapport, investigators have questioned dozens of friends and family members.

Cantat told a court hearing in Vilnius that on the night of the clash, they argued, he slapped Trintignant and she then fell, hitting her head.

But details of the French autopsy report made public last week suggest that Cantat may have trouble convincing a court of his version. The report found that the actress suffered a shattering of the bones in the nose, cerebral lesions similar to those observed in shaken babies, hemorrhaging of the optic nerve and multiple facial traumas. She also had injuries to both forearms, one hand and a thigh. Superficial burn-marks on the backs of the arms and legs suggest that she was dragged along the floor.

Sales of Noir Desir albums have doubled since the fatal incident, perhaps because of morbid curiosity. But the band's future seems in doubt, with many predicting a split. There are also signs of a backlash, as some radio stations have temporarily stopped playing Noir Desir songs, and a documentary on the band was pulled from pubcaster Arte.

Cantat's career may be irreversibly damaged, but Trintignant looks set for a posthumous final flourish.

Last week, the invitations went out in Paris for press screenings of the movie "Janis and John," in which Trintignant will be seen in the title role of Janis Joplin. The film was directed by her former partner Samuel Benchetrit, father of her two youngest children.

The late actress' mother, Nadine, has also said she will complete the miniseries on which they were working in Vilnius as a tribute to her daughter. Marie Trintignant played the title role of "Colette," a biopic about the French writer who was a symbol of women's emancipation.

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azure
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Re: Abuse in spotlight after actress' death
« Reply #1 on: Aug 20^th, 2003, 7:23pm »

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WOW!

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HELLO EVERYBODY!!

Rhune
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Re: Abuse in spotlight after actress' death
« Reply #2 on: Aug 20^th, 2003, 9:06pm »

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Yeah, I highlighted the part that shocked me. I'm sure we have at least those figures here in america for the deaths, but probably not necessarily the amount of women who are beaten in relationships. The deaths seem larger to me, maybe because France is so much smaller.

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