Trintingnant, Jean-Louis

(1930- )

   Actor, director, and screenwriter. Jean-Louis Trintingnant began in the theater and has appeared in well over one hundred films. Trintignant first appeared on the screen in Christian-Jacque's Si tous les gars du monde (1955). His breakthrough role was in Roger Vadim's scandal-raising debut Et Dieu créa la femme (1956) alongside Brigitte Bardot. He landed a major role alongside Romy Schneider in Alain Cavalier's Le Combat dans l'île (1962). His celebrity was solidified with Claude Lelouch's Un homme et une femme (1966). He would star in several Lelouch films, among them Le Voyou (1970), Partir, revenir (1984), and Un homme et une femme: vingt ans déjà (1986). He won the Silver Berlin Bear for his performance in Alain Robbe-Grillet's L'Homme qui ment in 1968 and best actor at Cannes in 1969 for his role in Constantin Costa-Gavras's political thriller, Z. He starred in key films by Nouvelle Vague or New Wave directors, appearing in Eric Rohmer's Ma nuit chez Maud (1969), Claude Chabrol's Les biches (1969), and François Truffaut's Vivement dimanche! (1983), among other films.

   Trintingnant also played memorable roles in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Trois couleurs: Rouge (1993) and Patrice Chéreau's Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train (1997). He acted in several Italian films, among them Dino Risi's The Easy Life (1962), Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist (1970), and Ettore de Scola's The Terrace (1980). He directed two films: Une journée bien remplie (1973) and Le maître nageur (1979). He married Stéphane Audran and later Nadine Marquand (who became Nadine Trintingnant), in whose films he would star. The actress Marie Trintingnant is his daughter.

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins