The black sun of the 7th art has gone out. One of the pillars of world cinema, Alain Delon died on Sunday, August 18, at the age of 88. “Alain Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony, as well as (his dog) Loubo, have the immense sadness to announce the departure of their father. He passed away peacefully in his house in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family,” they affirm in unison, turning their backs on months of bickering through the media and the courts over the fate of the star, weakened by illness.
When his death was announced, tributes poured in. On the social network X, director Philippe Labro opened the show: “Farewell Friend/the most beautiful filmography/an incredible and fascinating personality/his Beauty cannot suffice to explain the exceptional evolution of his talent. He was inhabited by grace. The ultimate star. The Samurai.” The same admiration from photographer Jean-Marie Périer, who knew the actor and who added: Franceinfo : “He spent his life proving that he was more than just handsome and took a lot of risks. He was a guy who really believed in his cinema.”
For his part, the former Minister of Culture Jack Lang speaks of a “prince of cinema” with whom he had woven “very close bonds of trust and friendship”. On the LCI set, Bruno Cras, journalist and film critic, looks back on the beginning of his career in the cinema of Alain Delon: “an extraordinary actor, who marked his time”. Still in the world of the 7th art, the director Bernard Murat, who directed Alain Delon in the play Enigmatic variations in 1986, added: “He was a great actor, but above all, a personality. He did not act, but embodied the characters. Whether in the theater, in the cinema or in life, there was no difference for him.”
Emmanuel Macron hailed in a tweet a “French monument” which “embodied legendary roles, and made the world dream”.
Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard also tweeted about his disappearance: “The last of the giants. Myths are eternal.”
“The race of lords”
Alain Delon was also a man of the right, nostalgic for the De Gaulle years. And this fringe of the political spectrum remembers it. Starting with the president of the Les Républicains party, Eric Ciotti: “Alain Delon was of the race of lords. He will forever remain in the eyes of the world the French Man with a capital H […] A sincere patriot and man of the right, Alain Delon always defended a certain idea of France.”
Furthermore, the actor never hid the affection he had for the former leader of the National Front Jean-Marie Le Pen. And he admitted it in 1987, on the set of Antenne 2: “The extreme right is still the right. It brings together a few million French people. We cannot ignore and underestimate the opinion of a few million French people, it is important,” insists the star.
Unsurprisingly, compliments have been pouring in from the ranks of the National Rally. Its spokesperson, Laure Lavalette, soberly wrote on X: “A star has joined the stars.” Julien Abbas, departmental head of the Young LR Yvelines, was equally moved: “With the passing of Alain Delon, France has lost one of its most talented actors, endowed with extraordinary beauty and defending his strong convictions on today’s society. Today, an era is ending and is now entering into history, into legend. Farewell, sir.”
François Asselineau, a politician who supported Frexit, also spoke about the actor: “More than an actor, Alain Delon had become a symbol. In France and around the world, he embodied the French seducer and the elegant, powerful, radiant France of the 1960s and 1970s.”
In addition to his closeness to the far right, the actor was used to controversy. Appearing very rarely in the cinema since the end of the 1990s, the actor made headlines for his shocking statements about the death penalty or homosexuality. A few months after the adoption of marriage for all, the actor let slip on the set of C à vous that homosexuality was “against nature”. One of his last escapades dates back to 2015, when he gave his support to the European deputy Nadine Morano, who claims to consider France as a “country of the white race”. Positions that tarnish this French monument.