Gruesome Netflix drama: rockstar murders wife

It was the summer of 2003 and I was touring with my beloved through France. For three weeks we hopped from one chambre d’hôte to another. We listened to Rain Down On Me by Kane and Ik Wou Dat Ik Jou Was by Veldhuis & Kemper, and I read – feet on the dashboard – Paris Match.

Bertrand Cantat was everywhere

My love and I had just visited Deauville – both in love with Un Homme et Une Femme, which is partly set there – and were completely into the Trintignant family. Jean-Louis Trintignant, who plays the male lead in Un Homme et Une Femme, had two daughters with his wife – also an actress and screenwriter. Pauline passed away when she was very young, and Marie, their other daughter, was so affected by it that she did not speak for a long time and suffered from extreme shyness.

At the moment I was there, with the sun on my feet, delving into the tumultuous life of the Trintignant family, I read that Marie Trintignant – as I found in the professional literature – was traveling with her beloved: Bertrand Cantat.

Not a sweetheart, that Bertrand Cantat

Marie Trintignant, now also an actress, was in Lithuania for filming and her beloved Bertrand Cantat was with her. Cantat, frontman of the dark rock band Noir Désir, also ticked off the rockstar boxes here in Lithuania: a lot of drinking and drama. That was all to be read in Paris Match.

A fight that got out of hand

A subsequent update reported that Marie Trintignant and Bertrand Cantat had a severe argument and that he, in an intoxicated state, had thrown her head so hard against the wall that Marie ended up in the hospital.

Did Bertrand Cantat kill his girlfriend?

The days that followed were tense, and it seemed as if all of France – and we too – were following along. Would Jean-Louis Trintignant now lose a daughter for the second time in his life? That is unbearable, isn’t it? But it happened. Marie Trintignant died from the injuries that Bertrand Cantat inflicted on her in their hotel room.

Bertrand was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2004. By the way, he only served four years of that, because he was allowed to sit on terraces with red wine again after four years for good behavior.

Dark shadow over his past

What makes the case even darker is that the woman he had before Marie, Kriztina Rady, initially supported him in the case, but later – in 2010 – committed suicide. Although the relationship was officially over, Bertrand Cantat did sleep in her house that night.

Bertrand Cantat: blood on his hands?

Initially, it was thought that Bertrand Cantat had nothing to do with this, but Kriztina Rady's last partner has asked the court in Bordeaux if the case can be reopened. He suspects that Bertrand Cantat exerted physical violence and psychological pressure on her in the period leading up to her death.

One thing is certain: the name of the band could not have been better chosen. Because dark is the word that best characterizes Cantat. And it is also material for a Netflix docu that grabs you by the throat. Now available to watch.

Are you thinking about suicide or are you worried about someone else? You are not alone. Contact 113 Suicide Prevention for free and anonymously at 113 or call 0800-0113.

Image: Netflix