He is beset by allegations of a political smear campaign, has been forced to deny the existence of a secret Japanese bank account, and is being described as the embodiment of the decline of France. But just when Jacques Chirac thought things could not get worse, he is about to make history as the first French president to be immortalised as a complete buffoon on the cinema screen, in a satirical documentary by two Oscar winners.
Dans la Peau de Jacques Chirac — Being Jacques Chirac — played to tears of laughter at Paris previews this week. It will open in France on May 31 as part of a phenomenon the newspaper Liberation calls ”Chiracophobia: the new national sport”.
Already The Tragedy of the President, a book detailing the president’s gluttony, lies, and belief in his own mysterious healing powers, sold out its first print run in days and has topped the bestseller list for seven weeks. Its author, Franz-Olivier Giesbert, has been stopped in the street by people shaking his hand and saying ”Bravo!”.
But Being Jacques Chirac goes a step further in its humiliating treatment of a head of state. Commentators say the film would have been unthinkable even a few years ago, and its box office takings will reveal whether the nation has lost all respect for the institution of president.
The 90-minute film is made up entirely of clips from archive television footage of Mr Chirac during nearly 40 years in public office, as minister, prime minister, Paris mayor and president. The footage gives free reign to his perpetual suave grin, vanity and famous political dithering and U-turning which saw him named the ”weathervane”.
We see Mr Chirac wandering his country estate, his love of shaking hands — even with dogs — and his chauffeur relaying how he would come out of 15-minute appointments with his trousers undone; and we see the frostiness from his long-suffering and fearsome wife Bernadette. An alarmingly convincing voiceover by a Chirac impersonator gives a hilarious commentary on the president’s life.
French TV channels stayed well away and did not buy it. But when the film opens at 100 cinemas across France its box office returns will provide a barometer of ”the nation’s humour” and the extent of Chirac’s fall from favour, according to the press.
The film’s producers are the same French team that created March of the Penguins, which won this year’s Oscar for best documentary and became the second most successful documentary in United States box office history after Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11. Being Jacques Chirac is already being compared to a Michael Moore-style treatment. But its writer-director team, the satirists Karl Zero and Michel Royer, disagree. ”Moore’s film about George Bush came out at the time of the US 2004 election campaign, it was a piece of propaganda against his re-election,” Zero said.
”We know Chirac doesn’t aspire to a third term as president … this is not a propaganda film anti-, or pro-, Chirac.” He described it as an ”unauthorised biography”, an unflinching and comic look at France’s political elite and their behaviour.
France’s bitter political rivalries and Chirac’s stealthy death-stares at opponents sometimes make for cringe-worthy viewing, as does the appearance of a 20-year-old student, Nicolas Sarkozy, now interior minister and a presidential pretender, at Chirac’s side.
But the film is a timely reminder of some of the president’s set phrases, such as his repeated ”where’s the proof?” when asked about numerous corruption scandals.
Chirac’s friends and foes, including his old enemy, Francois Mitterrand, are not spared the microscope. ”This is a film with no gunfire, no violence, but plenty of corpses,” Zero said.
”Chirac as a true cinematic hero,” added the producer, Bonne Pioche.
”This is a very human comedy, with all the contradictions we recognise in ourselves. It’s about a politician who we elected and who we therefore have the right to laugh at.” — Guardian Unlimited Â