The choice of director Léa Domenach to make a film about the former First Lady owes nothing to chance, as she has had such an impact on the French. Erwan L’Eléouet, author of “Bernadette Chirac, the secrets of a conquest”, looks back on her personality.
A woman “hurt”, hated and erased who takes her revenge. This is the summary of the film in a few words. Bernadette of Léa Domenach, which is released in theaters on Wednesday October 4. If the director took liberties with reality, the choice to make a biopic on Bernadette Chirac, played by Catherine Deneuve on screen, owes nothing to chance. Once unloved by French men and women, because perceived as rough, conservative and bourgeois, Jacques’ wife, long in his shadow, finally managed to leave her mark on the position of First Lady.
A little over 15 years after her departure from the Elysée, the one who was also elected locally in Corrèze is still associated with the Yellow Pieces operation in the collective imagination. The director of Bernadette is not even far from making her a feminist icon with her film. Why is Bernadette still so fascinating? Franceinfo asked the question to Erwan L’Eléouet, author of Bernadette Chirac, the secrets of a conquest (ed. Fayard) and editor-in-chief of the show “Un jour, un destin”.
Franceinfo: Were you surprised by the announcement of the making of a film on Bernadette Chirac. Why not a work on Anne-Aymone Giscard d’Estaing or Claude Pompidou?
Erwan L’Eléouet: What can be surprising is to say that we are making a film about a personality who is still alive. This can be tricky. On the other hand, I am not surprised that it was chosen as a subject, because it impressed something on the minds of the French. She is one of the most popular First Ladies in the history of the Fifth Republic, notably because she remained at the Elysée for twelve years, where she left her mark.
Above all, there is a dramatic spring in the life of Bernadette Chirac which explains why the director was interested in her rather than Anne-Aymone Giscard d’Estaing or Claude Pompidou. When she returned to the Elysée in 1995, she was erased, and even ousted, by her own camp. His daughter, Claude Chirac, put it aside with her father’s agreement. In a way, she then took her revenge by returning to the forefront.
One of the scenes in the film shows Bernadette Chirac deciding to improve her image with the help of former prefect Bernard Niquet, played by Denys Podalydès. Was she aware of how she was perceived by the population?
Yes, absolutely, and that’s what helped her take her revenge. She was really an extra in her husband’s career at first, notably when he was mayor of Paris. She didn’t have the right to speak and when she did, we felt she was so morbidly shy that we were almost worried for her.
“She had learned to live with a man who was a political warrior, putting herself at the service of his ambition, which meant that she forgot herself for a long time.”
Erwan L’Eléouet, author of “Bernadette Chirac, the secrets of a conquest”at franceinfo
Bernadette Chirac was aware of having a capital of sympathy which was in deficit compared to Jacques, who was a seducer, with a lot of charisma and a natural sympathy, a good-natured side which allowed him to campaign in a very human way. It was stuck and padlocked by its original environment. She also explained in an interview that she was aware of being perceived as cold.
As the film shows, it was really Bernard Niquet who helped her get out of this very harsh character that she played. He was aware that there was a gap between the public image and the private person, because she was capable of self-deprecation with a very English, very deadpan humor. He helped reveal this hidden side to the public, but also to show that she was not a puppet.
She wanted to change her image, but did she also want to shake up the role of First Lady, notably by getting involved in the Yellow Pieces project?
What we can say is that she opened a new era, she almost defined the contours of the role of First Lady. And it was not a foregone conclusion: we must remember that during the celebrations of July 14, 1995, she was not even in the official gallery. She therefore had to define this status which is not enshrined in the Constitution. She knew how to find her place and find means of action, with the Yellow Pieces, but also by becoming a real hostess at the Elysée.
She wanted to make it a showcase of French excellence and she was also criticized for her enormous expenses! It was not uncommon for her to make check-up visits, until going to check the alignment between the plates. It actually made people cringe at the time.
What was his relationship with the French and French women? She was often mocked by “Les “Guignols de l’info”…
I think something changed with the sincerity she had in the book Conversations [une série d’entretiens avec Patrick de Carolis]. She said how much she was a woman who had been scorned and who had been deceived. She even recounted how she had to endure the onslaught of her daughter Laurence’s illness from the age of 15 and a half, often alone, because her husband was consumed by politics.
All of a sudden, French people became aware of this bullying and humiliation, but also of his loyalty. It’s also a book that she wrote after the death of her mother, as if, in her social environment, where one must never say anything, she had decided to crack the armor. Then, we can also recognize in him a form of political constancy, even while disagreeing with his rather retrograde ideas, particularly on the question of abortion.
She was general councilor of Corrèze between 1979 and 2007. She is the only First Lady to have held elective mandates. Can we say that she had political flair?
Politics was not in his initial software, his parents were not delighted to see Jacques Chirac enter politics. However, she has become a politician over the years. What must be understood is that the intimate and the political are linked for her.
“Politics having devoured everything in her relationship, she knew that when Jacques asked her to be a candidate for the cantonal elections in 1979, it was in reality an order.”
Erwan L’Eléouet, author of “Bernadette Chirac, the secrets of a conquest”at franceinfo
But this constraint turns it into a formidable asset. She changes by learning from her husband. Her re-election continued for 36 years, it was also her medal which allowed her to say: “It is she who manages affairs in Corrèze”. But also : “I know what the terrain is, what France is waiting for”. She even defined herself as “the fly in the train”. This experience gave him media and political exposure.
We would be tempted to make a comparison with Hillary Clinton, who remained in her husband’s shadow for a long time, before becoming an unsuccessful candidate for the American presidential election in 2018. Could Bernadette Chirac have had personal ambitions in politics?
There was surely a desire to do more with local elected officials, but no, she did not have presidential ambitions, unlike Hillary Clinton. On the other hand, she certainly saw in the American, a sister at heart. She also received it in Corrèze in the middle of the Monica Lewinsky affair in 1998. But the comparison stops there.
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What is Bernadette Chirac’s legacy? Only Yellow Coins?
The operation still exists, but it is true that it no longer has the same scale. She really was Mrs. Yellow Pieces. She entered homes thanks to this operation and she became a kind of grandmother attentive to others, who defended a very noble cause, which resonated with her personal history and her daughter’s anorexia nervosa. She is also remembered for her character, her cold side, but also her humorous traits. This is also something that the film shows well, which is above all a comedy.
Director Léa Domenach explained to The Ardennes his desire to make a feminist film. Is this a label that Bernadette Chirac would have used to define herself?
She was a woman of her time, who had to endure the machismo of her time, including from her husband. When we delve back into the archives, we come across comments made by Jacques Chirac about his wife while she stands silently by his side. She was not a claimed feminist but, in her own way, she carried part of the fight of women at a certain time. She had to fight to be recognized and assert herself to influence decisions. Being elected in a rural department at the time was no small thing, parity did not exist. Being a woman in politics back then was even harder than it is today. She opened a door, you have to give her that credit.