Two days after the sudden disappearance of Michel Blanc, his lifelong friend Gérard Jugnot could not contain his emotion during a tribute to the actor at the Cinéroman festival in Nice.
A heartbreaking loss for French cinema
It was on the night of Thursday October 3 to Friday October 4 that Michel Blanc died at the age of 72, victim of anaphylactic shock during a routine medical examination. The news caused a shock wave in the world of cinema, particularly affecting his lifelong companions from Splendid. Gérard Jugnot, upset, immediately reacted on Instagram: “Fuck Michel… What did you do to us…”
An impromptu tribute to the Cinéroman festival
Despite his pain, Gérard Jugnot insisted on honoring his commitments by going to the closing ceremony of the Cinéroman festival in Nice, on Saturday October 5. The organizers of the event took this opportunity to pay an unforeseen tribute to Michel Blanc, modifying the evening program to broadcast a retrospective of the late actor’s career.
Gérard Jugnot overwhelmed by emotion
Faced with the images retracing the exceptional journey of his friend, Gérard Jugnot could not contain his emotion. As reported by Paris Match, the actor appeared “his face marked, his eyes moist and his head in his hands, visibly upset by the sudden death of his 72-year-old friend“. The photographers present captured these poignant moments. We see Gérard Jugnot sunk in his chair, his eyes red with tears.
At the end of the screening, at the invitation of the festival president, Gérard Jugnot briefly stood up, as if to pay a final tribute to his friend, before quickly sitting down again.
The silence of the Splendid
If Gérard Jugnot chose to honor the memory of his friend by participating in this public tribute, the other members of Splendid preferred to remain silent. In a joint press release, Josiane Balasko, Marie-Anne Chazel, Christian Clavier, Thierry Lhermitte and Bruno Moynot expressed their “tremendous pain” and asked the public and the press “to respect [leur] silence and meditation.”
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