Overview
- The feature-length documentary, which aired Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. on France 2, uses unseen home footage to chart Renaud’s 50-year career and public causes.
- Director Tancrède Ramonet gained access with the help of Renaud’s daughter, Lolita Séchan, whose cooperation unlocked private photos, videos, and notebooks.
- The film foregrounds recurring paranoid crises, including a Cuba episode where Renaud said he feared a plot to kill him, presented through on-camera words and close testimony.
- Relatives recount how he refused medical treatment and relied on alcohol as a coping tool, with ex-wife Dominique Quilichini calling it his “medication” to quiet his demons.
- Critics in major outlets praise the film’s restraint and lack of hagiography, and the broadcast comes days before three scheduled concerts at the Zénith de Paris.