François Mitterrand, black and pink portrait – Le Monde

Le Monde | 12/14/2015 at 4:14 p.m. • Updated 12/14/2015 at 5:21 p.m. | By Renaud Machart

Documentary on Arte + 7 until December 21

“What is left of our love? “William Karel offers a bittersweet portrait of former socialist president.

Early in his documentary on the” Mitterrand years, “William Karel made to list the “reforms that have profoundly changed the face of French society” after the arrival of the left to power in 1981: “Abolition of the death penalty, increased the minimum wage by 10%, the family allowance of 25%, authorization of private radio stations, tax on large fortunes, 39-hour week, fifth week of paid vacation, retirement at 60, equal pay between men and women. “ Curiously, the voice adds a final element that seems not raise social progress or even cultural: ” Not to mention the Feast of Music “

After this exposure following immediate and long rebuttal. Sometimes cruel. We perceive, among the members of the entourage of François Mitterrand, some do not mince their words, those who feel closer to the President than the others, those who have slipped him the right ideas at the right time, etc. These courtiers live decidedly all the same Duchy of vanities. We do not talk about the dead, but we guess that they, living and Mitterrand passed away, they would not remain silent as a tomb.

soundbites Collection

As exciting and informed it is, William Karel film does not quite answer the way Arte presents: “Twenty years after his death, what is left of the first president Socialist of V ^th Republic, romantic face multiple shadow share? Over rich testimonies, William Karel signs a critical assessment of the Mitterrand years. “ If there was a newspaper article, we define” What is left of our love? “As an information and not as an analysis paper. But what is advertised as “balance sheet”, which thus expect further decline, to put into perspective, too often boils down to a collection of sound bites in the form of revelations now authorized by the time and design of the private sphere, changed considerably since the arrival of social networks

While the various parts -. even if they are tiny – the puzzle combine to illuminate the portrait of the intriguing M . Mitterrand, but regrets the slicing testimonials, probably too many. As stakeholders often say roughly the same thing, as surveyed in the same events, Karel and editors sometimes manage to say one short sentence by three different witnesses. This is a virtuoso, but dizzy after a while.

House once again, despite the revelations of chilling reminders of the absolute cynicism of the “last of the great presidents” (as well as Mitterrand himself had very conceitedly but quite rightly glimpsed), its blatant lies, its methods and its Florentine abrasive cruelty, the image of a leader who will remain as the only large, Charles de Gaulle, the V ^th Republic. And the last of the “kings” of the history of France, admired by many, even among those who, among his enemies, fought assiduously.

The explanation for this paradoxical mystery? The journalist Christophe Barbier, editor of Express , the situation of a word: “There is genius in Mitterrand! “ Complete That immediate and also just codicil: ” From the evil genius, sometimes … “

What is left of our love? by William Karel (Fr., 2015, 90 min). Arte + 7 until December 21.