Le bon plaisir

One of seductive films more for actors and their job than for story itself. A letter, containing an embarrasant secret about president, a young thief , a journalist, precise effort of Interior Minister to solve the situation. And the charme of Catherine Deneuve. Sure, the reference to Mitterant simmilar situation can be obvious. But the film works by itself, for the fine exploration of politic and fair answer about compromises.

For once, Francis Girod directed a film in which no one dies horribly (Lacenaire, and the unforgettable Trio infernal). It's a fairly sedate story of a French president with really chilly mien who tries to bury the fact of fathering a child from an adulterous affair with Catherine Deneuve. To help him do this, he has the very capable and sinister Interior minister, played by Michel Serrault, spare no efforts. Capable, with good performances from Serrault and Auclair as a gay publisher, but not really gripping.

This movie, made in 1983, relates the story of a French president who has an illegitimate child whose existence becomes a state secret. When the film was released, Mitterand was a newly elected president, but what was not known to the public was that Mitterand had had an illegitimate child whose existence was a state secret up to around the time of Mitterand's death. The secret was known to many journalists and, it would seem, to the makers of this film. There is no way, this could be pure coincidence, there are just too many parallels. It makes very interesting viewing now. Above all there is, as one might expect, superb acting from Deneuve, Trintignant and Serrault. Not to be missed.

Le Bon Plaisir is simultaneously tense yet relaxed. It's a tribute to the skill of the team that made this film. I can hardly find words to describe. It must literally be seen and heard to be experienced. Not to be missed. A Masterpiece of detached plot development where outcomes and impacts are not neither anticipated nor expected. The movie has a solid plotline, and yet the movie seems to flutter aimlessly in the wind like a flag on a day of gentle puffs of wind. There's an other worldly quality to this film for which I can't yet find a verbal description, but I will try. It's as if the characters are playing themselves in the movie and are aware they are playing themselves and are aware of the impending outcomes of their actions and machinations but are inexorably destined to play out the action over and over like marionettes. It's a very haunting effect.

Other comments I have read in this "User's column" are harsh on the character of Jean-Louis Trintignant as President. It is true that Trintignant overplays a bit, but not by much!

He does not make his impersonation of the President repulsive - at least by my French standards -, although he could have omitted the temper tantrums which (concerning Mitterrand) are implausible.

The depiction of a powerful President living in the trappings of the Republic is milk and honey to a Frenchman who has lived the Mitterrand years. François Mitterrand was a complex and secretive man, very smart and cultivated, devoted to serving his country, faithful in his friendships, but utterly ruthless when political matters were at stake and enjoying every morsel of his power. Although not entirely faithful, I find his depiction by Trintignant quite plausible on the whole.

And Serrault - giving a wonderful portrait as Interior Minister and lifelong friend of the President - could have many models: Michel Poniatowski (Interior Minister under Giscard) comes to mind.

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