She was suffering. Arriving in the music industry in the early 60s, Françoise Hardy had a very rhythmic and happy life in the spotlight. But for a few years, suffering from cancer, the artist and mother of Thomas Dutronc, claimed the right to die with dignity. It was finally at the American Hospital of Neuilly-sur-Seine in the Paris region that she died, Tuesday June 11, 2024, from the consequences of the disease. She was 80 years old. A shock for her loved ones who, despite the reluctance of her concerned, decided to organize a funeral for her nine days later. An event disrupted by a worry, as reported by Paris Match in its June 27 edition.
What Jacques and Thomas Dutronc had planned for the funeral of Françoise Hardy
“Françoise had declared ‘not wanting anything. A cremation as quickly as possible, and that’s it’. How can we reconcile the public’s desire for a final farewell with the wishes of a deceased person? A compromise is found: the loved ones will be invited to the Père-Lachaise crematorium, and the public will be authorized to come and pray from afar. Thomas and Jacques refute the idea of speeches.write our colleagues. So to pay tribute to this mother and wife who left them far away, they made a sentimental choice: “We’re going to play her favorite songs and those of hers that we loved the most”. Among those chosen for the event organized on June 20, 2024, father and son opted for And if I leave before you, The time of love, So many beautiful things et Message personnelcomposed with Michel Berger. “Thomas interspersed the pieces with sound extracts, where we hear his mother recall the key moments of her existence”, tell our colleagues. But this moment of contemplation did not exactly go as planned.
This technical incident occurred during the funeral of Françoise Hardy
“As Françoise’s coffin makes a solemn entrance in front Brigitte Macron, Nicolas Sarkozy, Rachida Databut also Julien Clerc, Etienne DahoSheila, Adamo or encore Louis Chedidhis voice seems strangely fast to the 200 people gathered under the dome of the funeral home. After three minutes, Thomas heads towards the technicians before returning, dejected, to address the audience”. He will then declare: “We have a problem, the tape is on fast forward, so it’s not her real voice, we don’t recognize her. We’re going to try to find a solution. And then she’ll go up to the top of the funeral home, then disappear, and then we can all talk together.”he promises. Some time later, the technical problem is fixed and the songs are broadcast by the loudspeakers, immersing the audience, in which Jacques Dutronc and Jean-Marie Périer (with whom she had a story) exchange a few words, in a silence of contemplation. At the end of this interlude, Thomas Dutronc assured: “I think he would have had a good laugh about the situation. We’ve had so much sadness all week.”. It is now up to him to carry the heavy task of bringing his mother to her final resting place. Because the ashes of Françoise Hardy will rest in a concession in the Monticello cemetery, a place dear to her heart where she married Jacques Dutronc in 1981.
