The seaside resort is inseparable from the author of the Dam against the Pacific and of The Loverwho regularly stayed in the old Les Roches Noirs hotel, transformed into apartments in 1963. His soul hovers over the rainy town, on the sunny beach, in the cafes and tea rooms of this Calvados commune, a false twin of Deauville , which extends on the other side of the Touques.
The pilgrimage to Durassie begins at Central, the unmissable seafood brasserie. Bought three years ago by the owner of Sénéquier, a famous Saint-Tropez haunt, the Norman restaurant retains its splendor, with its squad of eager waiters and its striped tablecloths. Red and white. Duras (1914-1996) is pictured in the establishment. She had her own table at the back of the large room. “I ate at Central – always the same – natural langoustines and a Mont-Blanc »she says in one of her latest books, Yann Andréa Steinerpublished in 1992.
Her last companion, the writer Yann Andréa, has lived with her since the famous summer of 1980, which was the subject of a collection of chronicles in Release. They frequented the Charlotte-Corday patisserie together, a little further down the quay. The boss, Marie-Thérèse Gibourdel, 82, remembers the couple: “They sat near the window. If anyone recognized her, she claimed not to be Marguerite Duras but to look a lot like her. Our ham and cheese pies were made for her, who didn’t eat anything sweet. »
Trips with Depardieu
A little further away is the Saint James Hotel, with its old-fashioned English chic. Christian Fleury has worked there for forty years. Here, Duras did not leave only good memories. “She had demanded to sit at a table occupied by other customers. When my boss refused, she threatened to damage the reputation of the hotel, boasting of her friendship with François Mitterrand. »
Memories are more peaceful at the Caves Trouvillaises, where you can buy excellent Calvados (that of Michel Huard, for example, which is 20 years old). Gérard Bazire, the colorful wine merchant, formerly at the helm of Les Vapeurs, the other famous brasserie in Trouville, remembers the trips to ” Daisy “ with Gérard Depardieu. In 1974, the actor starred in The Woman of the Gangesshot by Duras right here, on the beach and in the legendary hall of Roches Noirs.
You have to take the promenade des planks and walk past the villas from the end of the 19th century.e century to reach the imposing yellow castle-like building, built in 1866. Nothing seems to have changed since the time when Duras was writing, in To write (1993): “It was in Trouville that I looked at the sea until nothing. Trouville is the solitude of my entire life. » She says her attachment: “As soon as I move away from Trouville, I have the feeling of losing light. Not only the straight light of the full sun, but the diffuse and white light of the overcast sky and the sooty light of storms.we still read in Material Life (1987).
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