Emmanuel Macron Calls Alain Delon a ‘French Monument’

President Emmanuel Macron has called actor Alain Delon, whose death was announced by his family on Sunday, a “French monument.”

In a message published on the social network X, Macron recalled some of the characters who have most marked his filmography, emphasizing that Alain Delon “played legendary roles and made everyone dream.”

“Melancholic, popular, secret, he was more than a star: a French monument,” concluded the head of state, illustrating his message with a photograph of the actor in his youth and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as the backdrop.

Jack Lang, who was culture minister during the Socialist presidency of François Mitterrand, recalled in an interview with France Info radio the great friendship he had with what he called a “great actor” and the tribute he received at the Cannes Film Festival when he was in charge.

Lang said that, although Alain Delon was known to be right-wing, he had “a relationship of respect and then affection” with François Mitterrand, to whom he paid tribute after his death in 1996.

“Alain Delon no longer exists. We thought he was immortal because he had several lives,” outgoing Culture Minister Rachida Dati wrote in X magazine, believing that France had been “orphaned by his most beautiful screen personification.”