The trial has begun of the French singer Bertrand Cantat who is accused of killing his girlfriend, the actress Marie Trintignant, in a case which has transfixed France. Charles Bremner reports from Paris

Who are Bertrand Cantat and Marie Trintignant?

They are as famous and interesting a couple in France as Chris Martin, the lead singer in Coldplay, and the actress Gwyneth Paltrow are in the UK.

Cantat is the lead singer in Noir Desir (Black Desire) who are a rather worthy, politically-engaged rock group, a bit like Coldplay.

They are what you might call a thinking people’s pop group. He backs all the right things: he is anti-globalisation, anti-US, pro-worker's rights and, ironically pro-women.

French rock on the whole tends to be very derivative. It is best when it has got good lyrics and the lyrics written by Cantat are usually good.

Trintignant has become a bigger star in death than in life. Previously she was more known as the child of famous parents.

Her father, Jean-Louis Trintignant, was the star of many mega-hit movies of the 1950s. He starred with Brigitte Bardot in Et Dieu Crea la Femme (And God Created Woman) and was also in Un Homme et une Femme (A Man and a Woman) the most successful French film internationally in its time.

Nadine, Trintignant's mother, is a well respected film director. She has since written a best-selling book about her daughter's death where she referred to Cantat throughout only as the "murderer".

Marie starred in television programmes and in some minor films. She earned five nominations for the Cesar award, France's Oscar, but never won one. She was also a respected theatre actress.

What is alleged to have happened?

The couple were in Vilnius, Lithuania, last summer where Trintignant was filming a movie about Colette, the French writer. The film starred Marie and was directed by her mother.

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