The Tragic Destiny of Patrick Dewaere
The star actor of the 1970s, Patrick Dewaere, did not have an easy life. He committed suicide with a bullet in his mouth in 1982, had encountered addiction problems, thus dragging his partner Élisabeth Malvina Chalier into his downfall. These misfortunes were confessed by their daughter Lola, who also became an actress, in an interview with L’Express.
Lola’s Painful Childhood
Lola had also confided in May 2021 to Voici about her painful childhood, she who was abandoned by her parents. She explained, in particular, the reason why she decided, despite everything, to make herself known under her father’s name: “Let’s not lie to each other, I told myself that it would go faster for me if I called myself Dewaere. After all, he owed me that, my father.” An interview during which she also revealed that Patrick Dewaere was in debt at the time of his death, which complicated the situation: “He left us so many debts that life was not easy.” She also broke the myth that her father was friends with Gérard Depardieu, with whom he shares the cult film Les valseuses: “Their friendship is a legend, they never saw each other outside the sets. I think there was jealousy, a kind of competition, at least on the part of my father.”
The Impact of Patrick Dewaere’s Life
The immense Claude Sautet’s psychological drama Un mauvais fils, starring Patrick Dewaere, will be broadcasted this Friday 2nd June at 9pm on France 5. His daughter Lola, who lent her voice last year to the documentary Patrick Dewaere, mon héros to tell the tragic destiny of her famous father, had to face the consequences of his addictions and debts: “I saw her stuffing herself with methadone, those little pink pills she peeled off every morning. […] I also understood that it was not easy to lose a husband at 22, to be left with debts since my father had never paid his taxes, to be kicked out of her house.”
