The city of Boulogne-Billancourt, where Jean Gabin lived and worked for a long time, wanted to pay tribute to the sacred monster of cinema. This Tuesday, March 8, she therefore invited an audience of stars to come and inaugurate the brand new exhibition that she devotes to him at the museum from the 1930s until next July. People that Mathias Moncorgé, son of Jean Gabin, welcomed as it should. Audrey Crespo-Mara and Thierry Ardisson, still in love, made an appearance, as did Fiona Gélin and her companion Richard Bauduin. Brigitte Fossey, Thomas Hugues, Isabelle Vitari, Vincent Perrot, Patrice Leconte, Dominique Besnehard and Mathilda May also made the trip. Smiling from ear to ear, the father-son duo Jean-Pierre and Benjamin Castaldi also took a look at Jean Gabin’s retrospective, closely followed by Catherine Ceylan, Nicole Calfan, Lambert Wilson and Michel Drucker.
Mathias Moncorgé was not the only child of cinematographic legends to be present. At his side, Anthony Delon, Paul Belmondo, Philippe Raimbourg or even Lemmy Constantine, whose dads rubbed shoulders with Jean Gabin one day or another. Anecdotes and memories were exchanged, provoking laughter and emotions along the corridors of the exhibition. All played the game in front of the photographers, aware of the historic nature of this reunion.
Jean Gabin did not transmit his passion for cinema to his son Mathias. On the other hand, Alexis, grandson of the hero of the Quay of the Mists, walks in the footsteps of his grandfather. If he is not yet installed in the cinema, the 35-year-old actor has cut his teeth on the boards in several plays. Recognized for his talent, Alexis Moncorgé did not take advantage of his status as “grandson of” to make a name for himself in the industry: “I assure you that nothing was given to me. No free pass. […] I worked in bars to pay for my lessons and my rent. You see me arriving somewhere with a sign: ‘I am the grandson of Jean Gabin’? No, I trimmed“. At the Gabin-Moncorgé, success has to be earned!
All the photos of the stars at the Jean Gabin exhibition are to be discovered in the slideshow.