On the occasion of the fourty years anniversary of François Mitterand's election, a look back to the relationship between the President and artists, from admiration to manipulation.
Fourty years ago, in May 1981, with François Mitterrand's election, some people were letting themselves dream about a better life while others were predicting the coming of soviet tanks upon the Champs-Élysées. If we gladly remember the turning point of austerity in 83, there were also the wage rises, the fifth week of paid leave, the abolition of death penalty, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, or the advent of independent radio stations. Rare archives and accounts by those who were at the heart of this story give an overview of it and shed light on lesser-known aspects.
There is one thing that Nicole, who is soon turning fifty, would have loved to be spared, is to learn that the symptoms that have been ruining her life for some time are not those of a latent menopause, but those of a real pregnancy! What a drag…
Marie and Boris decide to get a divorce after 15 years of marriage. Tensions rise when cash-strapped Boris must continue to live with Marie and the two children while trying to figure out how to divide the assets.
Directed by French Director Christian Faure and released in 2014, The Law brilliantly traces three days, in late Fall 1974, of stormy debate in the French National Assembly, around a bill which would make "voluntary termination of pregnancy" legal. Behind this bill stands a lone woman brilliantly played by a remarkable Emmanuelle Devos (also in The Other Son): Simone Veil the Minister of Health in the Jacques Chirac government during the presidency of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. During these three days of violent debate Veil, a Jew and Holocaust survivor, is spared nothing: political negotiations, solitude, sparring arguments, insults and violence to her family. In spite of all of this, Veil never wavers.
"What could be more unsettling than a man close to death whose profound arrogance drives him relentlessly to hang onto both his power and his writing, to the bitter end?" In the twilight of his second seven-year term, François Mitterrand was alone. Ravaged by illness and abandoned by a large majority of the Socialist Party, who would not forgive him for the disastrous outcome of the March 1993 elections, the Head of State was preparing to tackle a second round of cohabitation with the right wing. However a series of unexpected tragedies and revelations would arise, casting a shadow over the end of his reign…
