The Last Mitterrand

The Last Mitterand sure score points for originality, let me tell you. Eseentially, this story details Mitterand's visit to his potential biographer during the last few months of his tumultuous decade as the French President, and in declining health. The President talks about his years in power and his politics, but sidesteps any questions about his shady past, particularly in World War II. The author tries to go through other sources to get this information, only to realize that he's being watched..

If I've confused you, I'm sorry, as this, amazingly enough, is a fictional piece! Although it's totally implied that Michel Bouquet is playing Mitterand, the character is only addressed as 'Mr President'. This movie is actually based on a book that was written about Mitterand, and the movie, pay attention now, is based on the author's research on the book and communications with Mitterand. I don't think I've ever seen a movie biography done this way before. (Well, OK, Interview With The Vampire, but that was uhhh total fiction). I have to tip my hat to the filmmakers for this idea! Hats off too to Bouqet, who is simply stunning as Mitt-er I mean "The President". He had that role NAILED down. I don't know what Mitterand's nuances were, but Bouqet was amazingly believable. Finally, although I hardly know a thing about French politics (and it appears that other people in the audience got some of the jokes I didn't), you can just enjoy this movie for what it is, a magnificent portrait of a interesting, yet somewhat guarded individual.

This is a fascinating little film about the last few months in the life of Francois Mitterrand (Michel Bouquet), president of France 1981-95, and his relationship with a young man, Antoine Moreau (Jalil Lespert), who has been commissioned to write his life story.

Bouquet is, quite simply, phenomenal as Mitterrand; his physical resemblance is uncanny and his mannerisms and speech are spot-on. It is a delight to see the way he takes you into the heart and soul of a quite controversial figure in post-War French politics; Bouquet portrays the way that Mitterrand seemed to genuinely retain his socialist beliefs, right up until the 1990s. He visits a closed mine, the scene of a tragedy many years before which cost the lives of forty miners, to make a moving and rousing speech on the plight of French workers and the accomplishments of the socialist party in France (minimum pay, paid holidays, shorter hours, etc.). There is fine language and rhetoric but also genuine feeling, delivered in an awesome performance by Bouquet.

Mitterrand had a great rivalry with Charles de Gaulle, and this is given a lot of time in the film. Also, Lespert is keen to delve into the murky past of Mitterrand during his service in Vichy under Petain; you get the feeling there's a lot more to find out here, something Lespert discovers in his secret trip to the infamous spa town.

It seems pointless, the little sideline of Lespert's personal life, time that could be better spent on Mitterrand's personal life, which is totally absent from this film. I'd like to have seen a lot of archive film: Mitterrand and Kohl meeting at Verdun, for instance.

Mitterrand reflects on modern politics and the great advances made by modern France: for example, the modern transport system (we see Mitterrand travelling by the modern TGV train, the envy of the world).

This is a fascinating film for any Francophile. It is a grey landscape - particularly Mitterrand's last visit to his home town and the beach nearby - but that is politics. Highly recommended.

Mister president is sitting in an empty railway carriage (second class) with his little entourage. The train is cruising leisurely through a soggy, foggy, wintry landscape. „What is the color of France?" he asks. As always, he gives the answer himself: „It's gray. France has many shades of gray. Gray is not so bad after all."

This movie is gray and slightly spooky throughout, but that really isn't so bad after all. Michel Bouquet delivers a totally stunning performance as an old, dying sly fox who is very lonely and uses – or abuses – a young writer as a companion with the promise to give him material for memoirs. They go crypt- and cemeterywatching together (preparations have to be made), go for walks on the beach and in the park, and at one time the young, self righteous chap comes in handy because the old gentleman can't make it out of the bathtub alone anymore.

The old man has been surrounded by yes-men too long, he is almost overwhelmed by the sense of his own importance. He is out of touch and he senses that it is difficult to make a clean exit. But, hey, he still wants to have some fun. It consists mainly of manipulating other people, letting them feel his power in a subtle, cultivated way - but, well, that's just too bad. You have to enjoy yourself as long as you can.

I consider this movie mainly a comedy, I really don't care if there are any similarities with people that once existed. If a former French president looked like Michel Bouquet, who makes any film he is in watchable, then I can't help it. The set design deserves special mention, it is usually luxurious and stylish in a presidential way but a little shopworn. And it always seems to be cold in this movie. The atmosphere reminded me of Hal Ashby's Being There.

Anybody who likes gray movies should watch this, others had better stay away.

No doubts about it, Michel Bouquet as the late French President, Francois Mitterand, had an excellent performance. It reminds me Bruno Ganz's interpretation of A. Hitler in "Der Untergang" (The Downfall). But, what would have been the movie without him? That is what has disturbed me from the beginning. Antoine Moreau was, to my eyes, everything else but convincing in his role. this could be interpreted as a weakness of the film, as everything looks to have been focused on one and only one character, the old dying Mitterand who is preparing his farewell as president. A little bit of french/European history knowledge might be helpful, but nevertheless, this film is to recommend.

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!