French actress Marie Trintignant has undergone two emergency operations and remains in a coma after a violent argument with her boyfriend Bertrand Cantat, a singer with the rock group Noir Desir.

Trintignant was in Lithuania filming Colette, a TV movie she co-wrote with her mother Nadine who is also directing the project.

According to police reports, Cantat was under the influence of a combination of medication and alcohol and during an argument with the 41-year old actress and pushed her causing her to fall and severely hit her head. According to Agence France Presse, the local police opened a preliminary investigation into the affair in order to determine if criminal charges will be filed.

Trintignant hails from a showbiz family: her father is the award-winning French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant (Three Colours: Rouge, Z, Ceux Qui m'Aiment Prendront Le Train), her mother Nadine a director/writer and her brother Vincent was working as assistant director on Colette at the time of her collapse.

Trintignant herself has acted in over 50 films and television shows including Ponette, Comme Elle Respire, Harrison's Flowers and the upcoming Janis And John in which she plays Janis Joplin and Claire Devers' Marins Perdus alongside Bernard Giraudeau and Audrey Tautou. She has been nominated for 5 Cesar awards.

Speaking to the press, her doctor said on Tuesday, "We have operated at the request of those close to her. It was a last chance operation because the patient's condition is very serious." Trintignant has been in a coma since her arrival at the hospital over the weekend with severe cerebral haemorrhaging.