Series Afterwards the cinema is an opportunity to celebrate the 7e art by revisiting key titles that celebrate important anniversaries.
This is the story of a charismatic politician who is “close to the people”. Except that with the fairer sex, it sometimes becomes too literal. The media revels, his career is compromised, but his wife remains by his side. This is a situation as old as politics. In the key novel Primary Colors (Primary colors), we are witnessing the dissection of one of the most famous cases in this field: Bill Clinton, renamed Jack Stanton. Mike Nichols directed an adaptation promised to be a big success. It was rather a failure, because when the film was released in March 1998, reality had surpassed (pseudo) fiction. Did you say Monica Lewinsky?
With hindsight, the film nevertheless stands out as one of the best American political dramas.
A seasoned journalist, Joe Klein used the pseudonym “Anonymous” for his thinly disguised account of the Democratic primaries for the 1992 presidential campaign, as experienced in the Clinton clan. It was the literary event of 1996.
Following a telephone interview with the mysterious author, Mike Nichols, a rare filmmaker and member of the select club of EGOT (artists with one or more Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards), acquired the adaptation rights.
For the director of the masterpiece The Graduate (The winner), the central theme of Primary Colors was honor. On the Charlie Rose show, he explained at the time: “I’ve had this theory for a long time that honor is one of the favorite subjects of cinema. When you think of those movies we love, Lawrence of Arabia (Lawrence of Arabia), Or casablanca, the theme, the backbone of these films, is honor, and the definition we have of it. »
Great admirer of the English actress Emma Thompson, who has just won a second Oscar for her screenplay of Sense and Sensibility (reason and feelings), and which he would later find on Wit (Nice spirit) And Angels in Americathe director offered her the role of Susan Stanton, the deceived wife.
In this regard, the matrimonial study in the background of Primary Colors allowed Nichols to explore further concerns already addressed in Heartburn (The burn), in which Nora Ephron, author of the autobiographical novel and scenario, returned to her difficulty in leaving her fickle husband.
In an interview at the Golden Globes on the sidelines of the premiere of Primary Colors, Emma Thompson maintained in this regard: “Marriage as an institution was not invented in order to keep men faithful, but in order to keep women within the limits of patriarchy. »
From the outset, Thompson affirmed her desire not to imitate Hillary Clinton (she would later say that she was inspired by Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair). Conversely, John Travolta, then at the peak of his second post-pulp Fictiontransformed into Bill Clinton, from salt-and-pepper hair to timbre of voice, and so on.
Obsession and hypocrisy
As in his previous The Birdcage (My aunt’s cage), an adaptation, casually, very political of the French play and film The Fool’s CageIn Primary ColorsNichols is critical of the media and the public, denouncing the former’s obsession with sex scandals, and the latter’s hypocrisy on the issue.
At one point, a political aide to Jack Stanton argues: “Hitler remained loyal to Eva Braun. Does that make him a better man? »
Beyond the Godwin point, the question, absent from the book, arises. It emanates in this case from screenwriter Elaine May (nominated for the Oscar for adapted screenplay). Director, screenwriter and script doctor (or “screenplay repairer”) Hollywood’s most popular, May formed a legendary comedy duo with Nichols in the 1950s.
In the biography of Mark Harris Mike Nichols: A Lifethe script Mary Bailey describes the close collaboration that reigned between the old accomplices on the set of Primary Colors :
“Every morning, they told each other the story of the film […] If they couldn’t remember something, it was a red flag—a scene that needed to be rewritten or a point in the story that wasn’t in the right place. For them, it was an exercise allowing them to have both a detailed view and an overview. »
In fact, the narrative construction is of exemplary clarity. Take, for example, this prologue and this epilogue, this one absent from the book, devoted to the art and symbolism of Jack Stanton’s various handshakes: they echo each other perfectly.
Idealism and pragmatism
Long before the film hit theaters (and President Clinton swore he hadn’t had sex with Monica Lewinsky), articles attacking the production were published, often written by colleagues of an up-to-date Joe Klein. in the meantime.
Asked in 1997 about the alleged complacency of the film in relation to President Clinton, Ann Stavola, of the Universal studio, retorted to the political journalist of the New York Times Maureen Dowd:
“Mike is pursuing bigger issues. The role of the media, ethnic relations, do we judge our politicians with a higher moral microscope…? »
Marriage as an institution was not invented to keep men faithful, but to keep women within the bounds of patriarchy.
For the record, the film and the book are told from the point of view of Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), grandson of a civil rights hero, a character partly based on George Stephanopoulos, director of communications of the Clinton clan during the 1992 presidential election. A novice, Henry is torn between idealism and pragmatism. Although… To her ex, a journalist for the fictional activist publication Black Advocate who accuses him of having sold his soul, Henry replies, and it is specific to the scenario:
“I know the difference between a man who believes in what I believe and lies to be elected… and a man who doesn’t care. I choose the liar. »
The awareness of the story
In front of the “scenes of political life” that the Stanton couple serves up to us, chilling with cold calculation, it is difficult to discern this peremptorily evoked complacency. One thinks – opinion of spoilers – of the sequence where Libby Holden (Kathy Bates, electrifying), faithful friend of the couple and expert in crisis management, teaches them that Jack’s competitor once had a secret homosexual relationship.
Deep down, Libby hopes the Stantons, whom she idolizes and protects, will refuse to use this information. It’s a test. However, as soon as Libby’s report is finished, Jack consults Susan, who lists without hesitation the newspapers to which it would be most relevant to leak the information without the odious reflecting on them.
Libby, who is lesbian, represents the conscience of the film. Tragic in itself, his subsequent suicide is all the more meaningful.
In a portrait that the New Yorker dedicated in 2000 to Mike Nichols, who is described there as a “director of directors” for his virtuoso but not very showy cinematographic technique, Steven Spielberg took this composition by Kathy Bates as an example. This illustrated, according to him, unequivocally the gift of his mentor to systematically obtain “the best performances”.
Nominated for the Oscar for support for this role, Kathy Bates related to this effect to Mark Harris: “I knew that [Libby] was cheerful, but I thought she was disappointed because the Stantons turn out to be greedy and vicious. I didn’t dig any deeper, until Mike said, “It’s personal to her. She is happy. Their behavior is a betrayal of who she is.” Suddenly everything became clear. »
And 25 years later, everything is still clear. Thus, by revealing the lack of scruples – and therefore of honor – of the Stantons, the film makes the implacable demonstration that if we have the politicians we deserve, it is because, like the narrator in the fluctuating idealism, these are the ones we “choose”.