FRANCE: French actor Marie Trintignant died yesterday in a French hospital, a day after being flown back from Lithuania in a coma, after sustaining severe head injuries during an incident at her hotel in Vilnius.
Trintignant, daughter of movie star Jean-Louis Trintignant, the 41-year-old died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on the western edge of Paris.
"She died this morning . . . from the consequences of a brain oedema, despite the intensive care which has been administered since her arrival at the Hartmann clinic," Dr Stephane Delajoux told reporters.
The actress's family has filed a complaint in a Paris court against her boyfriend Bertrand Cantat, lead singer with top French rock band Noir Désir, alleging premeditated grievous bodily harm and failure to help a person at risk.
French prosecutors said they would widen the probe to include the criminal charge of involuntary manslaughter. The judge in charge of the case ordered an autopsy, which was expected to be carried out late yesterday.
Mr Cantat (39) appeared in court in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on Thursday and was placed under formal arrest for two weeks while police investigate.
He told the court that Trintignant's injuries were accidental and apologised to her family, his lawyer, Mr Virginijus Papirtis later told reporters.
On Friday, Cantat was transferred from his cell in Vilnius to a prison hospital because of fears for his mental health.
Cantat had been admitted to hospital shortly after Trintignant to be treated for alcohol poisoning and a suspected overdose of pills or drugs.
The affair has shocked France. President Jacques Chirac paid homage to the actor, who was known for playing fragile characters with an erotic edge.
"She served her art with beauty, sensitivity and intelligence, touching the hearts of the public through cinema and television alike," Mr Chirac said in a statement.
Among her best-remembered roles is that of a middle-class alcoholic, in Claude Chabrol's 1992 film, Betty.
She had been shooting a film in Lithuania, about the French writer Colette, directed by her mother Nadine Trintignant.
Marie Trintignant leaves four sons. - (Reuters) -