Why is the French defence not played at the highest level? I am a French defence player and I enjoy playing almost all the lines (Tarrasch, Winawer, advance variation, ...) because I think the play that follows the opening suits my style and I feel very comfortable. I am a club player (~1800).

I have realized lately that at the very top level the French is not played. Most of the games that start with 1. e4 end up being Sicilian defences, Berlin Walls (or some other lines of the Ruy Lopez) or even some Caro-Kahn (I recall at least a game or two of Giri playing this).

If we don't consider just the very top level (which I consider to be the top 20 players in the world more or less) we can find some 2700 rated players who have played the French (I recall some game from Vallejo now).

So I wonder why is the French not played more often. Which is the line for white that gives the greatest advantage? Could anyone point me to a reference explaining how to "refute" the French with white?
Peter Svidler answered this in a recent video for Chess24:


  Why do the majority of GMs and almost all super-GMs play 1…e5 or 1…c5
  in answer to 1.e4 rather than the French Defence (1…e6)?
  
  Peter: I think the answer is twofold. Firstly, both the Spanish and
  the Sicilian offer you a much broader scope to choose from. If you
  play 1…e5 you’re not really limited to one structure, let alone one
  line. That’s not necessarily to say the French is one structure and
  one line, but it does limit Black’s opportunities more than the
  Spanish or the Sicilian. But I think the bigger issue with the French
  is, at least for me, that it was always a very, very difficult opening
  to understand. I didn’t do that badly in terms of practical results,
  but actually understanding what’s going on in the opening is another
  matter – even from the white side, and it’s generally accepted that
  the white side is the more comfortable side of the French Defence.
  
  That
  brings me to my second point. This was mainly to do with the fact that
  I played French games almost exclusively with Alexander Morozevich,
  who put a tremendous amount of work and imagination into building his
  French repertoire. If you do that it becomes a very attractive option
  against 1.e4, because people don’t encounter it that often these days.
  People are no longer very convinced with their choices and I think
  it’s very playable and also a very sharp opening that you could argue
  definitely gives you more counterchances than the Spanish. If the
  white player would prefer a quiet life he will find it harder to find
  a quiet life in the French than in the Spanish.