Catherine Deneuve is a first lady, but not like Fabiola

It is understandable how films that deal with real characters in a country’s politics have a less compromised meaning, sense or meaning if the viewer has not experienced firsthand what is told. Apart from the different perspectives and the crack, a film about Cristina Fernández, wife of Néstor Kirchner, will not be the same as one about Bernadette Chirac and her husband, the president. Jacques Chiracwith Catherine Deneuve in this fictional comedy that debuts today.

Bernadette, the president’s wifeis the first feature film directed by Léa Domenach, and it focuses, more than the first, on his wife Bernadette, a woman who has been in the shadows, behind her husband, but supporting him or something more.

The original film poster is clear, bold and detailed: Catherine Deneuve’s (Bernadette) floral print on her dress blends into the background. How to go unnoticed.

He has a gift, the ability to predict who and when will win the elections. But Chirac ignores her, commands her, minimizes her contributions and treacherously betrays her.

From the beginning it is clear that this is not a biopic.

Fortunately.

The president’s ass-kissers, every time Bernadette casually expresses her opinion, smile calmly and make the president understand that she is an old-fashioned woman for the current times (from 1995 to 2007, that is, the two terms in which Chirac was at the Elysée).

Or yes? Bernadette will become a media figure with more energy than many figures or influencers today…

On the other hand, it’s nice to see a film that you can take to the cinema with the children without it necessarily being a cartoon. It’s not that the theme is for children, of course, but if the older ones remember The Coup d’Etat, well, it’s a satisfaction that they took us to see these films.

Léa Domenach wanted to feel free to tell her film as she saw fit, which is why she did not speak to any member of the Chirac family, nor to any of her loved ones. It recounts real events, but everything around it is imaginary.

And everything that is narrated is generally expressed in the funniest scenes, like the one set in the middle of the 1998 World Cup, when the cameras focused on Chirac while the players of the French team were being named, and no one even knew. just one of the names, making a false mimicry.

Of course, imagine that someone here made a film about De la Rúa or Alberto Fernández…

The director relies on self-affirmation and feminism, but without exaggerating, because if there is one thing that Bernadette wants it is for the sacrifices she made for her husband to be taken into consideration. And if not, she rebels, even in front of her daughter, the president’s advisor, and changes her image among the population, to the point of becoming her husband’s lifeline for the 2002 elections, where Le Pen seemed to oust him from the presidency.

As a great actress, Deneuve shines in comic moments, while Michel Vuillermoz, who has made more comedies than the first Marcello Mastroianniit’s fun, but imitating Jacques more than creating a character.

“Bernadette, the president’s wife”

Comedy. France, 2023. Original title: “Bernadette”. 94′, Atp. From: Léa Domenach. With: Catherine Deneuve, Michel Vuillermoz, Maud Wyler, Denis Podalydès. Rooms: Cinemark Palermo, Lorca, Cinépolis Recoleta and Pilar, Atlas Nordelta, Showcase Belgrano and Norcenter.