THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A biopic of Nicolas Sarkozy that charts his rise to power and break-up of his marriage has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival, threatening to turn the unpopular French president into an international laughing stock.
La Conquête (The Conquest) will receive its world premiere at the French festival on May 18 after months of fevered speculation about its content. The drama charts Mr Sarkozy’s victory in the 2007 election.
It also shows him fretting about his height and using colourful language to describe his enemies. Yet it brings out a more sympathetic side of the French leader as he struggles to cope with the break-up of his marriage to Cécilia, his second wife. She left him for another man shortly after the presidential race.
Mr Sarkozy now faces a dilemma over his attendance at the festival. He had been expected to walk his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, down the red carpet at the premiere of her film, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which will open the 10-day event.
Critics of Mr Sarkozy await its unveiling with glee, after a teasing trailer for the film showed him proclaiming: “I am a Ferrari. You open the hood with white gloves on.”
The premiere spells potential embarrassment for Mr Sarkozy and could dent his bid for a second presidential term at a time when his disapproval rating amongst the French electorate stands at 74 per cent. » | Anita Singh, Henry Samuel in Paris | Thursday, April 14, 2011
