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.

Francois Mitterrand was a fascinating political figure. The journalist Antoine Moreau, constantly interviewing the ailing President during the last months of his premiership and life, finds him fascinating and charismatic. The film is fascinated by him - Michel Bouquet's Mitterrand dominates all scenes he is in, controlling the conversation, the centre of attention, revelling in his role as the last great president (his argument is that in the age of globalization greatness will no longer be possible for French presidents - and, looking at his followers, he seems to have a point). The fascination of Mitterrand is that he is full of contradictions: the Left wing president who lives in palatial grandeur; the Left winger (we see him addressing workers, speaking of victories achieved through solidarity; and we see his final New Year's address as he argues that material wealth and growth is not important in itself, but as a means for a more equitable and fairer society - what leader would argue such utopian stuff now, just 20 years on?) who has moved to the Right, but French society has moved quicker than he has so he still seems of the Left; the canny political manoeuvrer who is cultured, loves literature, ideas and life. As well as being a significant political figure, Mitterrand was interesting as a person in a way that Bush or Blair or Sarkozy or Berlusconi are not. Yet, in a way, the film just presumes our interest. If you are not interested in Mitterrand, or have not really heard of him, then I am unsure that the film will gain your attention. I don't think there are any great insights of character or history here, no detailed study of a political operator - we are just asked to wonder at and about the President. Perhaps characteristically, there is a lot of questioning about Mitterrand's role during the War, his role in the collaborationist Vichy government, yet, in the end, no conclusion is reached. The narrative centre of the film is Moreau and he is given a life outside of his fascination with Mitterrand: his relationship with his partner breaks down, he meets another woman - but this is all a bit flat, it only gains significance when it connects with Moreau's relationship with the President. I liked this film, I found it interesting, but I think that was because I find its subject interesting - if you don't share my interest then I am unconvinced that the film will hold your attention. In a way the film is part of a Mitterrand cult rather than an exploration of it.

A dying president dictates his memoirs to a young journalist: this may not sound like a very exciting recipe for a film. But in fact, 'The Last Mitterand' is an intriguing movie. In part this stems from the fact that the eponymous French leader was an intriguing person in real life - a literate egoist with a heroic but compromised past, who believed himself to be the last great president of France and who completed his term of office while suffering (without any public announcement) from the terminal stages of cancer. But it also comes from the judicious blend of the political and the personal found in this film. In the title role, I'm not sure Michel Bouqet looks much like Mitterand - but one can believe utterly in his portrait. And while Mitterand was certainly a flawed politician, when contrasted to the leaders of our own celebrity driven age (Mitterand has mistresses who never made the press; current French president Sarkozy uses his sexy young wife - and former mistress - as a PR tool), his claim to at least relative greatness no longer seems risible.

I saw this movie yesterday, with somebody who have neither live in this country during Mitterand's presidency, nor had an interest with our narrow views on our own politics. And I was surprised,thinking I would show her part of the history of one of the most important guy in our recent history (the French one), to see that, actually, it's not about this president at all. Of course, there's some names mentioned, some events, but the main character is called "Mr President" and nothing else, and the movie focuses on "off times" of the president, moments of privacy shared with a journalist who is supposed to write a book about him. This is the story of an old man who, facing his death, tries to find peace and struggle to do what he have to face. The last two month of his presidency, when, literally eaten by his disease, he slowly becomes an impotent. The wish of being in the memory of his country ("Tell them than I'm not the Evil", he says to Antoine, the young idealistic journalist). His childish behavior (when he forces his bodyguards to stays on the beach and talk about poetry while the rain starts to fall, or when he confesses that he'd like to drive a Renault down the fifth avenue with Julia Roberts on his side...). And, most of all, his fight against his own past. About this, the best moment in this movie is when he says that some Jewish group wants "France to bow and begs for pardon like Willy Brandt. But that was not France !" After all, this is a story of a man who has such a past, such a (hi)story, that he becomes his own country, with all its contradictions, dark sides, denial, but also hopes, and definitely a sharp sense of humor... Although we could say that it's about time that this country turns the page and faces its history (what Mitterand never did), we can't say, here in France, that he will be forgotten. Never a president has be his country such as he did.

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.