Catherine Deneuve, at 81, might have gained a bit of the dreaded matronly demeanor that comes with maturity, but in my opinion, she’s more beautiful than ever. Her latest film, The President’s Wife, proves it. What a life. She’s worked with most of the great directors from Roman Polanski to Luis Bunuel and Francois Truffaut, had children by Marcello Mastroianni and Roger Vadim, and easily earned the reputation as France’s greatest living star. As the most coveted Gallic export since Dom Perignon, she gets better with age and shows no signs of slowing down.
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THE PRESIDENT’S WIFE ★★★ (3/4 stars) |
In The President’s Wife, another of those cinematic adventures about the woman behind the man and the power behind the throne—this time, Bernadette Chirac, the clever, charismatic and newsworthy wife of French president Jacques Chirac—she is simply fabulous. Writer-director Léa Domenach is no Truffaut, but she has managed to embroider a witty political satire more interested in moments of whimsical charm than any patent examination of an ambitious supporting player on the sidelines of a toxic marriage. And Deneuve plays it for all it’s worth—and more. Steadfastly glued to Jacques, a dull politician in need of strong assistance and devotion throughout his tenure as the mayor of Paris without any recognition for her help, Bernadette had already endured years of scandal and abuse when her husband was elected President of France in 1995. Desperate to share his success equally, she moved into the presidential Elysee Palace, hoping to play her new role as First Lady with vigor. Instead, he all but relegated her to oblivion.
Appeasing the press amid growing inquisitions about Chirac’s alleged affairs and indiscretions without endangering his dumb political position further, Bernadette hired a PR man to improve her image, conducting a survey at her husband’s own expense that revealed them both as austere, crabby has-beens. She swung into action, hell-bent on reinventing herself, using the late Princess Diana as a model of charm and grace under pressure, and latching onto Hillary Clinton’s trials and tribulations as examples of what an intelligent woman must endure to survive the negativity of fame. The results were astounding. Turned into a fashion muse by couturier Karl Lagerfeld and coached to say all the right things on every occasion, she became a media sensation, a glamorous cover girl, and a political powerhouse among voters—a cross between Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Eva Peron, like it or not. Chirac was forced to acknowledge his neglected wife as his strongest ally in his re-election and a major influence in the polls. It’s the story of an extraordinary woman, played by an extraordinary actress.
Standing by his side from 1995 to 2007, Bernadette nursed her husband back to health after a stroke, and even after his presidency terminated, she never gave up her grip on the power she created. In the end, to his horror, he watched her on television, standing arm in arm with her newest conquest—Nicolas Sarkozy, the man who had been his worst enemy and political rival for decades! Even if you have no knowledge of French politics in the era of the Chiracs it doesn’t matter. As a director, Domenach wisely avoids the mistake of too much interference. She gives you the facts in an outline, then sits back and leaves it up to her star to do the rest. It’s Deneuve’s movie from beginning to final frame, and she dominates every scene with a gorgeous and contagious charisma that is bewildering. As for her acting, she plays every conflicting character revelation without a hair out of place. Staring straight ahead or tilting her blonde coif slightly from right to left, she can epitomize the look of disapproval or dismay without a single spoken word. Interjecting opinions, battling two adult daughters, offering valid political suggestions, generally interfering with official government strategy, or just standing in center-screen position with hypnotic rapture, she is, in The President’s Wife, one of the year’s most compelling triumphs.
