La Conquete, which charts French president's ascent to power, generates strong reaction as first scenes are released online
Films about French political leaders are rare, those about presidents still in office unprecedented.
So the release online of the first fragments of La Conquete, a biopic of Nicolas Sarkozy that charts his giddy ascent to power in the five years to his 2007 election victory, generated plenty of comment and reaction.
Even more so given the febrile atmosphere into which the film will be released later this year, with Sarkozy's UMP on the rack and presidential elections approaching.
Producer Eric Altmeyer said that given its potentially explosive political nature, getting the film off the ground had not been easy. "We faced a problem that you face in the press: that of the 'hot potato'," he said. "They [production companies] tell you: 'Yes, yes why not, but we can't do it here.' They all pass the buck. And this subtle self-censorship might explain why in France there had never really been a movie about politics. Even though the genre works really well in Anglo-Saxon countries and even in Italy."
Some of the lines delivered by Denis Podalydès as an utterly convincing Sarko already have an unforgettable ring to them: "I'm like a Ferrari – when you open the bonnet, you use white gloves," the celluloid Sarkozy says at one point.
Podalydès told AFP: "The goal was never to make fun of the president, but to explain with the most accuracy what is politic in France today, the political world, its submission to the media world, his efforts to both differ from the past and stick to a heritage.
"From this point of view, there is necessarily some sort of comedy. The political world is a tragically funny world, any politician will agree. What might seem harsh, cruel, if you want, is the comparison between what is said in this campaign of 2007, what Sarkozy announced as a candidate, and what we can see today."
Critics were intrigued by the five-minute segment, posted on Allocine.fr. Aurelien Ferenczi in Telerama, a weekly magazine, asked: "What are the first things that strike you? The acting of Denis Podalydès? I'm not sure about the wig, which is a bit curly, but the voice is there, and also the funny way of moving about, with head stuck down between his shoulders, the back hunched over. Look how he faces up to [Dominique] de Villepin – the one ramrod straight, the other as if slouched over his plate – admire the oral mannerisms when he is talking to the union worker."
The film is released in France in May.