Political character study from France by Robert Guediguian
With this film from 2005 (which was also shown in competition at the Berlinale in the same year), the French director Robert Guediguian creates an extraordinary memorial to the late President Francois Mitterrand (1916-1996). In the original the film is called "Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars", roughly: The Stroller from the Field of Mars. The Field of Mars is the park (and former military parade ground) at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, where some scenes in the film were filmed.
Mitterrand is in the final weeks of his term as President of France (1981-1995). At that time, the term of office of a French president, who could be re-elected once, was seven years. Only with the re-election of his successor Jacques Chirac in 2002 was the term of office shortened to five years. In the midst of the dissolution in the Elysee Palace, Mitterrand has conversations with a young journalist named Antoine Moreau (played by Jalil Lespert), who expects these encounters to give him a major career boost. The president has completely different goals. He is concerned with leaving the public with an image that he has shaped himself, which he tries to achieve with the help of an easily influenced and naive young media representative. Moreau does not notice how he is being manipulated more and more by the cunning ruler Mitterrand. There is a lot to be dealt with in the political life of the President, who, among other things, knows how to cleverly and cunningly keep his shady role during the Vichy regime and his second family with his daughter Mazarine Pingeot (now a well-known writer and journalist in France) secret from the public.
It's a pleasure to watch this cat-and-mouse game between a political fox par excellence and his hopelessly inferior sparring partner. And all for a benevolent souvenir in the history books! Michel Bouquet, born in 1925, plays this role brilliantly and quite rightly received the French film award "Cesar" for best leading actor in 2006. Bouquet had already had some notable appearances over the course of his long career. In 1959 he played alongside the German-speaking world stars Romy Schneider and Curd Jürgens in "Katja, die ungekrönte Kaiserin" by Robert Siodmak, and was one of the victims in the Francois Truffaut classic "La mariee etait en noir" (1968) with Jeanne Moreau the title role and played the husband in "La femme infidele" (1969) by Claude Chabrol.
This film is a gem! No action, lots of dialogue! And yes, it is an advantage if you know something about French history over the last decades. But if that's not the case, you can watch a political predator at work. Politicians of the caliber of Francois Mitterrand no longer exist today. It's all the more fun to immerse yourself in a time that wasn't that long ago, but still seems far away.
This risk is worth it. Recommended!
With this film from 2005 (which was also shown in competition at the Berlinale in the same year), the French director Robert Guediguian creates an extraordinary memorial to the late President Francois Mitterrand (1916-1996). In the original the film is called "Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars", roughly: The Stroller from the Field of Mars. The Field of Mars is the park (and former military parade ground) at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, where some scenes in the film were filmed.
Mitterrand is in the final weeks of his term as President of France (1981-1995). At that time, the term of office of a French president, who could be re-elected once, was seven years. Only with the re-election of his successor Jacques Chirac in 2002 was the term of office shortened to five years. In the midst of the dissolution in the Elysee Palace, Mitterrand has conversations with a young journalist named Antoine Moreau (played by Jalil Lespert), who expects these encounters to give him a major career boost. The president has completely different goals. He is concerned with leaving the public with an image that he has shaped himself, which he tries to achieve with the help of an easily influenced and naive young media representative. Moreau does not notice how he is being manipulated more and more by the cunning ruler Mitterrand. There is a lot to be dealt with in the political life of the President, who, among other things, knows how to cleverly and cunningly keep his shady role during the Vichy regime and his second family with his daughter Mazarine Pingeot (now a well-known writer and journalist in France) secret from the public.
It's a pleasure to watch this cat-and-mouse game between a political fox par excellence and his hopelessly inferior sparring partner. And all for a benevolent souvenir in the history books! Michel Bouquet, born in 1925, plays this role brilliantly and quite rightly received the French film award "Cesar" for best leading actor in 2006. Bouquet had already had some notable appearances over the course of his long career. In 1959 he played alongside the German-speaking world stars Romy Schneider and Curd Jürgens in "Katja, die ungekrönte Kaiserin" by Robert Siodmak, and was one of the victims in the Francois Truffaut classic "La mariee etait en noir" (1968) with Jeanne Moreau the title role and played the husband in "La femme infidele" (1969) by Claude Chabrol.
This film is a gem! No action, lots of dialogue! And yes, it is an advantage if you know something about French history over the last decades. But if that's not the case, you can watch a political predator at work. Politicians of the caliber of Francois Mitterrand no longer exist today. It's all the more fun to immerse yourself in a time that wasn't that long ago, but still seems far away.
This risk is worth it. Recommended!