Manchester United fans always claimed that Eric Cantona was an artist - and they were right.

The actor, photographer and musician has overcome the ridicule that accompanied his screen debut to earn the recognition of France's cultural elite. No longer does the Left Bank scoff at the wild child from Marseilles who attacked - sometimes literally - the French football Establishment before finding a home at Old Trafford.

Today, Cantona is the embodiment of Gallic political correctness, espousing all the right causes, dedicating himself to art, wrapped in a clever mix of mystique and mass appeal.

The kung fu kick at a fan? Forgotten. The philosophy of the trawler and the seagull? An engaging idea. The embarrassing performance in Mookie, one of his first films? A brave first step.

The transformation is remarkable. Cantona the footballer was a hero in Britain but distrusted in his native France, where few tears were shed when he was dropped from the national team. Cantona the artist is a hero in France.

“An historic footballer, a remarkable actor and a photographer of talent,” was how Le Provence, the southern French regional daily, described him earlier this year.

This week Cantona and Rachida Brakni, his actress wife, were on the front of Paris Match, the magazine whose cover is reserved for France's leading celebrities. In an interview at their home, in the isolated Camargue marshlands, they spoke of life, love and philosophy.

Ms Brakni said she wanted a baby and sought to play down her intellectual image, saying she did not spend all her spare time reading Kierkegaard and Hannah Arendt. Cantona told of his difficulty in opening up to strangers. “There are meals where I don't say a word. I cannot force myself to do so. In art, I manage.” He added - in vain - “Don't write that please, it sounds pretentious.”

But that is not how Cantona is seen by his countrymen. “He's not a luvvy,” said Philippe Auclair, his biographer. “It's not all -darling, darling'. He's quite sincere. In fact, he has an almost childlike admiration for art and artists.”

Cantona's performance in Papillon Noir, a thriller made for French television and watched by 8.6 million viewers last year, won critical acclaim.

The aura will shine brighter than ever next month when he appears at the Cannes Film Festival in Looking for Eric, where he plays himself confronted by a supporter seeking guidance from a guru.

The film was made by Ken Loach, France's favourite British director after his ferocious portrayals of Thatcher's legacy. “The main thing about Ken Loach is that he really speaks and behaves in a left-wing way,” Cantona, 42, told Le Parisien. “I feel very close to his ideas.”

Last month Cantona finished shooting La Liste, another television film in which he has a leading role. In January he will go on stage for the first time in Face au Paradis, a play directed by his wife at the hallowed Marigny Theatre on the Champs Élysées.

More exhibitions of his photography are likely after the praise that greeted his black-and-white shots (“because, for me, black and white are life and death”) of bullfighters last year. He is also reported to have taken up the trumpet, maybe presaging a Cantona concert in a few years' time.

Then there are the causes he is supporting: a small Parisian theatre threatened by the loss of a government subsidy, and a Corsican nationalist found guilty of murder in a controversial trial this year.

Both are worthy, left-wing campaigns, although Cantona's politics may be more complex, according to Mr Auclair. “Fundamentally, I think he's an anarchist,” he said.

Manchester United fans always knew that, too.

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