Alain Delon’s complicated relationship with ‘peaceful’ Switzerland 

Alain Delon arrives at the press conference after receiving a Lifetime Award at a photo call at the Locarno Film Festival, Friday, August 3 2012. Keystone/Karl Mathis

The iconic French actor Alain Delon, who died on Sunday, was first attracted to Switzerland for tax reasons, but he eventually made a home in Geneva and acquired Swiss citizenship. 

“Alain-Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony, as well as [his dog] Loubo, are deeply saddened to announce the passing of their father. He passed away peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family,” said a joint family statement. The 88-year-old cinema idol died at his home in France.  

The star of films such as Plein Soleil and The Leopard was first attracted to the Alpine nation for fiscal reasons. In 1978 he created his company Alain Delon Diffusion in Geneva to sell the rights to his name on perfumes, champagne, watches, cigarettes, clothing and other accessories. But Geneva slowly grew on him. 

In an interview with the former Geneva newspaper La Suisse, Delon said he felt an “indescribable sense of peace” as soon as his plane touched down at Geneva airport. In 1985 he bought a villa in the leafy municipality of Chêne-Bougeries on the outskirts of Geneva and began putting down roots in Swiss soil.  

Alain Delon and his wife Nathalie arrive at Geneva-Cointrin airport, undated photo from around 1965. Keystone / Str

In 1999 the municipal authorities voted in favour of his Swiss naturalisation, as well as the naturalisation of his two children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, who were eight and five at the time respectively. In 2000 Delon took the oath of Swiss citizenship. 

He stayed out of Swiss politics and did not participate in Swiss direct democracy, with one exception. A dog lover – he wanted to be buried in a cemetery on his French estate with his 50 dogs – he campaigned in 2010 on behalf of an initiative to appoint lawyers for animals that were abused.  

“You have to understand that if you can torture a dog or any other animal, you can also torture a human being. I also hope that Switzerland will serve as a model, and that France will follow suit,” he told the Swiss paper Le Matin before the vote.  

The initiative was rejected by 70% of Swiss voters.  

Assisted suicide

In 2005 Delon sold the villa in Chêne-Bougeries for CHF3.5 million ($4 million) and moved into an apartment in Geneva’s Florissant-Champel district (his daughter Anouchka has lived there with her husband and son since 2018). In 2011 the apartment was the scene of a tragedy, involving his son Alain-Fabien, then aged 17. During a private party, a 16-year-old girl was seriously injured by gunshots to the abdomen. Accepting the theory of an accident, the juvenile court sentenced Delon’s son in 2013 to five months in prison, suspended for one year, for serious bodily harm through negligence. 

Switzerland would again become a place for rest and recuperation after Delon had a stroke in 2019 at the age of 83. He was operated on in Paris, where he spent three weeks in intensive care, before returning to Switzerland to recover at the private clinic for the wealthy Clinique de Genolier. He was in favour of assisted suicide, especially after watching his wife Nathalie die of pancreatic cancer in 2021. It is also probably why ending his days in Switzerland appealed to him.  

“I’m for it. First, because I live often in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is possible and also because I think it is the most logical and natural thing there is. From a certain age, a certain moment, we have the right to get the hell out of here peacefully, without going to hospitals, injections or things,” he told TV5 Monde in an interview in 2021. 

Edited by Reto Gysi von Wartburg/ts