Aftermath
When authorities first arrived at the hotel room, Cantat told them and Trintignant's parents that Trintignant had fallen backwards during their argument and hit her head against a wall. An autopsy revealed that Cantat actually struck Trintignant in the head and face at least 19 times. After the autopsy countered Cantat's version of events, Cantat would only admit to having "slapped" Trintignant four times and then putting her to bed while not knowing that she had incurred severe and irreversible brain damage due to the assault.
Although Cantat attempted to argue in court that he should be convicted of manslaughter, he was convicted of the slightly more severe "murder with indirect intent" and sentenced to eight years in prison. At the request of his lawyers, Cantat was moved from the Lithuanian Lukiškės prison, to a prison near Muret, France, in September 2004.
He was released on parole after serving four years of his sentence. Cantat's parole drew widespread criticism from women's rights activists and Trintignant's parents, who had failed to persuade French President Nicolas Sarkozy and French judges to block Cantat's conditional release.
Several writers criticized the media for sensationalizing Trintignant's death and her relationship with Cantat, as, despite the elements of domestic violence in their relationship, rock journalists frequently compared them to Romeo and Juliet, as well as Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen.
Trintignant's death resurfaced in the media years after Cantat's release when, in 2010, Cantat's ex-wife Krisztina Rády died by suicide. Cantat was present at Rády's house at the time of her death. Before her death, Rády had complained that Cantat subjected her to physical and mental abuse. Magistrates in Bordeaux conducted an investigation against Cantat to adjudge if he should be charged for culpability in Rády's death, but ultimately, they decided against pressing charges.
Marie Trintignant has been the subject of several documentaries, including Enquete Exclusive – Affaire Bertrand Cantat (2019) and Marie Trintignant: Tes rêves brisés (2022). The former deals with her death and Cantat's subsequent trial; it also shows, for the first time on French television, images of Bertrand Cantat's hearing before the Lithuanian court. The latter, which was directed by Trintignant's mother, recalls her life. In 2025 a Netflix documentary mini-series From Rockstar to Killer - The Cantat Case (2025) brought up new claims against Cantat from journalist Anne-Sophie Jahn.