The President’s Wife

Directed by Léa Domenach
NR; 92 minutes; French with English subtitles

“[Catherine] Deneuve, now a radiant 81, still effortlessly commands any screen with a charisma no other actress can project. So keep an eye out for this gem of a film and bask in Deneuve’s light.” —Jeffrey Lyons

Long the woman-behind-the-man, Bernadette Chirac (Catherine Deneuve) arrives at the presidential Elysée Palace in 1995 frustrated and all but cast off by her newly elected husband, Jacques (Michel Vuillermoz). In Léa Domenach's whip-smart feature film debut based on true events, Madame Chirac's rise from invisible political spouse to major media figure—as calculated as it was inevitable—is chronicled with equal parts reverence and wit, driven by Deneuve's wryly memorable central performance.

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