“The President’s Wife” Mostly Shines

The President’s Wife (Léa Domenach, 2023) 3½ out of 5 stars

Born in 1932, Jacques Chirac was elected to the French presidency in 1995, serving two terms, the second one ending in 2007. A conservative lawmaker, he followed the socialist François Mitterand, whose prime minister he had been under a divided “cohabitation” government between from 1986 to 1988, after his center-right party had won legislative elections. The movie I am about to review is not his story.

Entitled “Bernadette” in France, The President’s Wife—from first-time feature director Léa Domenach—instead focuses on Madame Chirac, aka “Bernadette.” A successful politician in her own right (and still alive as of this writing, born in 1933), elected repeatedly as a departmental councilor from Corrèze, she nevertheless usually took a back seat to her more ambitious husband. But here, as played by the great Catherine Deneuve (The Truth), Bernadette mostly shines.

Domenach adopts a highly aesthetic, beginning with a small vocal ensemble—acting as Greek chorus—introducing the film and its subject, They will return, at intervals, merrily singing of the exploits of our protagonist in a modern-day “song of Bernadette.” From the get-go, it’s a fun romp, even when it falters.

Also from the start, Jacques (Michel Vuillermoz, Rachel’s Game) takes her very much for granted, as he has their entire married life. The time is May, 1995, and Jacques has twice run for the highest office and failed. “The third time’s the charm,” Bernadette tells her priest in the confessional. She’s right, and he wins. Throughout, she will display better political instincts than anyone else, including her younger daughter, Claude (Sara Giraudeau, The Night Doctor), who is Jacques closest confidante. Even more impressively, Bernadette sticks by Jacques’ side, even when he gets caught red-handed having an affair (not the first time).

The crux of the narrative is Bernadette Chirac’s drive to carve out a place for herself as a dynamic First Lady of France, breaking the mold of past, more passive spouses. She is not happy being relegated to invisibility, resisting both Jacques’ and Claude’s demands that she do as she’s told. By ignoring them, she becomes popular in her own right (after initial public antagonism), which then helps Jacques win reelection by a landslide against the far right.

One doesn’t need to like the Chiracs’ politics (I certainly do not share them) to enjoy the film. The ironic approach to the story often proves a delight, though things stall towards the end, Domenach losing a little bit of control over the tone. The movie functions as a twisted feminist fable, given that Bernadette is a diehard traditionalist. Studies in contradiction can be quite engaging, however, and The President’s Wife is one such study.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Christopher Llewellyn Reed is a film critic, filmmaker, and educator, as well as Film Festival Today's Editor. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.