Funeral of Nathalie Baye: on the steps of Saint-Sulpice, Laura Smet meets fans for a last tribute

“An actress with whom we loved, dreamed, grew up”greeted Emmanuel Macron upon the announcement of his disappearance. Nathalie Baye died on April 17 at the age of 77 from Lewy body disease. His funeral will be held Friday morning in the Saint-Sulpice church, in the VI^e district of Paris, before a burial “in strict privacy”. Funeral day for French cinema, since the funeral of actress Nadia Farès, who died at the age of 57, will be held a few hours later in Montmartre.

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It is the monument of Place Saint-Sulpice, which watches over the ballet of the townspeople and celebrates its morning office. Percolators replace censers. The Café de la Mairie, a 1970s establishment, is an anachronism. A movie set. The tall figure of Jacques Weber and a few fans of Nathalie Baye, who came to pay their last respects, warm up there before the funeral in the large adjoining church. “Only guests with a card will be able to enter,” a gendarme explains to an admirer. That’s around 1500 people.

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Anonymous and curious admirers

A reasonable number if we put it in relation to his filmography. In a hundred films and a fifty-year career, the actress has given voice to all of French cinema. “Of course, I loved her talent as an actress, but above all her appearance, her presence, her simplicity”says Martine, in her sixties, who came to the Place du VI^e district before going to supervise an engineering student exam.

A few women stand out in the small crowd of fans, sometimes less movie buffs than nostalgic, who wait in front of the robust classic church. Scarves and makeup, they got ready as if the event primarily concerned them. “This discreet woman didn’t look like the other stars”observes Martine who admired her “elegant simplicity” and continues to be surprised by his relationship with Johnny and Jean-Louis Borloo. At her side, an admirer in a zipped vest prefers to remain silent, and her feelings for her. Another is looking for a television microphone in whom to confide.

Richard Berry, Michel Drucker, Jack Lang slip into the church. Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Benjamin Biolay closely follow them. Only stars inside? Nothing that pleases Geneviève, who believes that a church must welcome “everyone, even the bandits”. This sixty-year-old is not one of them. She was a graphologist, a job straight out of a 1970s film, complete with raincoat and spinning. She explains her presence this morning less by the desire to pay homage to Nathalie Baye – an admittedly vague expression – than by the desire to pursue some sort of relationship. Opened in cinemas. “When I go to see a film, I immerse myself completely, I go through the screen. Then, I am interested in the lives of those who made me dream”explains Geneviève. A way to make the charm last.

The phones of celebrity fans go up in one movement when the guests enter the church. The height of the columns makes these black headings smaller. In the crowd, one thinks he recognizes Francis Veber – it was Jacques Weber -, the other hopes for Gérard Depardieu, the fallen king of French cinema who played with Nathalie Baye in The Return of Martin Guerre. And from whom the actress has never withdrawn her affection.

A white coffin and applause

It’s hard not to think about The Green Room, the funereal and enigmatic film by François Truffaut released in 1978. The story of a man, played by the director, who does not want to mourn his wife and dedicates a chapel to her. He ends up accepting that a young woman, played by Baye, penetrates his madness. A ray of sunshine in this lugubrious and Sulpician heaviness.

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Catherine Deneuve, who came as a neighbor, in turn climbs the flowered steps. Jean-Louis Borloo, one of the men in Nathalie Baye’s life, also made the trip. Just like Eddy Mitchell or Brigitte Macron. The list of guests invited to the funeral looks like a movie credits. With the directors François Ozon and Xavier Dolan – the Quebecer who gave him his last most notable roles -, the actors Roschdy Zem, Guillaume Canet and Emmanuelle Devos.

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Silence, then applause when the white coffin in which the deceased rests comes out of the hearse. The family hugs, far from the fans who wonder what their pain is like, to quote a song by Benjamin Biolay, present in the church. The admirers applaud, but Laura Smet does not seem to hear them. She is in pain. The actress impatient bodies, fruit of the short but strong romance of Nathalie Baye and Johnny Hallyday, lets his emotion burst out above his mother’s coffin. At her side, Raphaël Lancrey-Javal, her companion, supports her. Laura Smet ended up realizing one of her dreams by playing opposite her mother in 2017, in The Guardians, by Xavier Beauvois. A story of strong women at the dawn of the First World War.

“I loved his desire to explore registers,” slips David, in his fifties, who adds: “You will notice that she often played strong, independent women. It was modern. » How much? A teenager inquires about the reasons for the gathering and does not seem any further when he learns that Nathalie Baye is being buried. The doors close on the memory of this actress who did not look like a star and who built herself through her roles. From his laugh, director Marie Jaoul de Poncheville noted that he was communicative “like ringing bells”. A moving compliment on a funeral day.

End of the service, a young blonde woman leaves the church, with a visibly heavy heart. New applause as the guests slowly emerge, preceded by the white coffin. They too clap their hands. A “Thank you Nathalie! » resonates in the crowd of onlookers under the sun. Michel Drucker salutes Jack Lang, unless it is the other way around. Valérie Lemercier doesn’t really have the heart to laugh. Xavier Dolan puts on his dark glasses, in the middle of this crowd of actors and comedians gathered to celebrate one of their own. Laura Smet then approaches the row of fans, shakes hands, shares the emotion of her rocker heart. Before a burial in strict privacy.