Great men the grateful country. The motto of the Panthéon also applies to the Cour d'honneur of the Hôtel des Invalides, in Paris (7th district), where a national tribute will be paid to Jean-Paul Belmondo, this Thursday at 4.30 p.m., before his funeral on Friday morning in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés church at 11 a.m. "I really like France ..." already said his character of young rebel in "Breathless", cigarette on his lips, facing the camera, in the film by Jean-Luc Godard who suddenly revealed him to the public in 1960, to make it the male counterpart of Brigitte Bardot, scoundrel, sexy, insolent, but immediately patrimonial. Fine like Bébel and BB France yes, its banter deposited like the coat of arms of kings.
This Tuesday, while the outlines of the national tribute ceremony were still emerging between the family of Jean-Paul Belmondo and the Elysee, the home of the deceased actor received a special visit, that of Brigitte Macron.
The wife of the Head of State came at the beginning of the afternoon "to personally send his condolences to his relatives, as well as on behalf of the president," confides the entourage of the First Lady.
In recent weeks, she had had the opportunity to chat with him several times, again at the beginning of July when they had a long conversation on the phone.
"They liked each other a lot, and gave each other news from time to time," it is said.
700 guests in the Cour d'Honneur
The President of the Republic was himself a big fan. In his cinematographic pantheon, “A monkey in winter”, the masterpiece of Henri Verneuil, where Bébel was knighted by another monument, Jean Gabin. He also had the opportunity to have lunch with him in Marseille, in the summer of 2017, in the presence of the lifelong friend, the actor Charles Gérard. When the latter passed away on September 19, 2019, Emmanuel Macron called Jean-Paul Belmondo to share his pain.
This Thursday, the ceremony organized at the Invalides will be the tenth since his election in 2017. It should take place in the afternoon, at 4.30 p.m., where 700 guests will be present in the Cour d'Honneur, as well as 1,000 people. authorized to attend from the passageways. On the forecourt, and visible from the esplanade, a large screen will broadcast the speeches, as well as extracts from cult lines.
If the national tribute is traditionally reserved for soldiers, like the French soldiers killed in Mali in 2019, rare cultural figures have been entitled to it in recent years: Jean d'Ormesson in 2017, Charles Aznavour in 2018 - Belmondo had attended - and the same year, Claude Lanzmann, the filmmaker of “Shoah”.
In 2020, the great resistant Daniel Cordier was greeted at the Invalides, as well as Samuel Paty, the professor murdered by a fundamentalist.
It is to say the gravity and the solemnity of the moment.
"The Belmondos are very sober people"
If it is Bébel's foolproof smile that his admirers will remember, this ceremony marks the salvation of the Nation to a son who embodied both great popular cinema and modernity in his game. "When the president has When he learned of his disappearance, the idea of Les Invalides became obvious to him, ”says his entourage, who admits that“ the family initially hesitated ”. “Les Invalides is all the same a very formal and formal place, while the Belmondos are very sober people who wanted something sober. "
Never mind, “we'll keep it simple, without rhinestones. But we will still pay tribute to his twirling spirit ”. Johnny Hallyday, he had received a "popular tribute", the president greeting his remains in front of the church of the Madeleine. In his speech, Emmanuel Macron will first celebrate the immensely loved actor, recalling “his filmography and his work which echo our French stories”, confides a member of his cabinet. Who remembers a memorable anecdote.
It was the evening of November 11, 2019 in the large village hall of the Élysée Palace, where Belmondo was made Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor and Robert Hossein Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit: “There was Claude Lelouch, Antoine Duléry, Jean Dujardin, Jean-Loup Dabadie, the whole gang in Bébel. A sacred atmosphere, so much so that the evening dragged on a bit. It was laughing, it was singing with a glass of champagne in its hand. At one point, they even sang
La Marseillaise
. Of course, the President of the Republic followed them. »Come on children, it is a day of love and celebration of the Magnificent.
