At the cinema this Wednesday, October 4, 2023, the film “Bernadette” tells the story of the first steps of Jacques Chirac’s wife at the Elysée. But did it really happen like that in reality?
Catherine Deneuve is Bernadette Chirac. Directed by Léa Domenach, “Bernadette” was released in theaters this Wednesday, October 4, 2023. This feature film follows the former first lady, after the election of her husband (played by Michel Vuillermoz), put aside because deemed too old-fashioned compared to the President of the Republic. However, she decides to take her revenge by becoming a leading media figure.
The Chirac family did not approve the film project and did not participate in the film's production. Thus, it was necessary to embroider on certain elements, while maintaining an offbeat tone and assuming an element of fiction. “Most of the scenario is based on proven facts,” assures director Léa Domenach in the press kit accompanying the release of the film. “Once the story was established, we took liberties because we were writing fiction.”
Thus, the character of Bernadette Chirac as portrayed in the film would be different from the real ex-First Lady. "We deliberately softened her character. She is certainly 'tougher' than what we show in the film [...] we wanted a real fictional, comedic character." Thus, the Chirac family was not consulted and did not have to give its authorization for the feature film, which is a fiction despite the real inspiration.
But what differences were made between the film and reality? The director explains in fact that, if Bernadette Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy did indeed meet in secret in 2007, the choice to situate this exchange in a confessional is completely accepted. Bernadette Chirac's makeover by Karl Lagerfeld, to whom she was really close in reality, was also invented.
