Emotion and respect for the national tribute to Michel Bouquet at the Invalides, in Paris

“Michel Bouquet will have burned the boards and punctured the screen for seventy years” : it is with these words that Emmanuel Macron began his eulogy, Wednesday April 27, during the national tribute paid to the actor at the Invalides. “His face and his voice were the scene of all our feelings. In a hundred plays, in a hundred films, it has made the rounds of man. continued the President of the Republic in front of some one hundred and fifty guests (including Francis Huster, Catherine Frot, Kad Merad, Julie Gayet, Nicole Calfan, Guillaume de Tonquédec, Jean-Marc Dumontet, etc.), a large part of the government and the family of this sacred monster of the boards, who died on April 13 at the age of 96.

“Michel Bouquet entered theater as one enters religion. He believed in his characters as one believes in divinities.continued Mr. Macron in a courtyard of honor where two large portraits offered the smile both sweet and mischievous of the actor. “Luckily, Michel Bouquet’s devouring love for the theater was not exclusive. The greatest filmmakers have forever fixed his genius on film. (…) He was, during these decades, this black sun of French cinema. Scanning our flaws, probing our fury, unmasking our contradictions and flushing out our baseness, he delved into the depths of our souls to bring everything back up. Intractable conscience of France, intractable because always true”insisted the President of the Republic.

“We must serve but not serve ourselves”

After Charles Aznavour, in October 2018, and Jean-Paul Belmondo, in September 2021, this is the third time that Emmanuel Macron has paid national tribute to an artist. If we were teasing, we would be tempted to say that it takes a death for culture to be honored after an electoral campaign where it was never a question.

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Before the presidential eulogy, three popular comedians – Fabrice Lucchini, Muriel Robin, Pierre Arditi – saluted the memory of this playmate and teacher. All recalled the total respect that Michel Bouquet had for the authors and their texts: “We must serve but not serve ourselves”used to say the one who interpreted The King is Dying eight hundred times, by Ionesco. “When you played, Michel, you imposed, and what is very rare, something which is of the order of the indisputable (…), no one could replace you, underlined Fabrice Luchini. Also familiar with him, Pierre Arditi, who shared the stage with him several times, ended his speech by saying: “Michel, you are the theater and the theater never dies. »

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