President’s Wife, The (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Aug 07, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Léa DomenachRelease Date(s)
2023 (June 24, 2025)Studio(s)
Karé Productions/France 3 Cinéma/Marvelous Productions (Cohen Media Group/Kino Lorber)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: C-
Review
Not bad, The President’s Wife (original French title: Bernadette) is the kind of French comedy-drama popular these days—depressingly Hollywood influenced but revolving around uniquely French interests. In this case, Catherine Deneuve stars as Bernadette Chirac, the long-suffering wife of Jacques Chirac, the French President who served from 1995 to 2007, the story confined to this same period, and the personal and political intrigue at the Elysée Palace. Much of the political humor in first-time director Léa Domenach’s screenplay (co-written by Clémence Dargent) will be lost on non-French viewers, but the universality of “First Ladies” living in the shadow of their ambitious, often unfaithful husbands connects with a non-Gallic audience.
Right-of-center Jacques Chirac defeats Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin in 1995, in no small part due to Claude Chirac (Sara Giraudeau, of TV’s The Bureau), his youngest daughter and trusted political advisor. Conversely, he’s entirely dismissive of outspoken but politically savvy wife Bernadette, with advisors such as Dominque de Villepin (François Vincentelli) treating her as something of a joke. Worried about her gaff-prone mother, Claude assigns Bernard “Mickey” Niquet (Denis Podalydès) to assist her, but he turns to be completely supportive of Bernadette’s efforts to assert herself, seeing the opportunity to build upon her popularity in Corrèze as a member of its Departmental council from 1979. With Niquet’s help, Bernadette is rebranded as a politically active First Lady, ultimately far more popular than her scandal-plagued husband, raising funds for charity and eventually writing a best-selling autobiography, despite the angry disapproval of the frequently exasperated Jacques.
Seemingly fully recovered from a 2019 stroke, Deneuve, still beautiful, is a delight as Bernadette. Early in her career, she could be icy and inexpressive, but her naturalistic performance here is subtly droll. In a ballsy casting move, the then 80-year-old not only plays the much-young (then 62-year-old) Claudette, but also opposite Michel Vuillermoz, an actor almost twenty years her junior (Jacques Chirac was one year older than his wife), Deneuve having already appeared in something like six movies by the time Vuillermoz was born. Nevertheless, they make a completely convincing, age-compatible couple, he also a dead ringer for Chirac.
Their relationship is interesting, and probably quite common among political power couples. He’s a shameless philanderer bordering on misogynistic and shockingly cruel at times: at a high point in her political life, while making a warmly received speech to Chirac’s team, he passes a note to her telling her to “shut up.” Yet she admits she still, on some level, loves and admires him, even though they by this point they lead largely separate lives. To his credit, at least some of the time he recognizes she sometimes has better political instinct than his own ambitious advisors.
The film is a little clunky here and there, with a misguided Greek Chorus, a kind of church choir, singing about Bernadette’s life that doesn’t quite work. Better is the careful integration of footage of the real-life French President and First Lady and other political figures, some played by actors, other via Forrest Gump-like computer-generated integration, such as one scene with Deneuve with the real Hillary Clinton, a little jarring as the two are near-contemporaries in real-life. The real Bernadette Chirac is herself still living, 92 in 2025.
Though Warner Bros.’s France subsidiary was involved in the production, The President’s Wife comes to Blu-ray via Cohen Media Group with Kino Lorber distributing. Filmed digitally for 1.85:1 projection, the video transfer is up to contemporary standards, with a bright, sharp, colorful image throughout, while its DTS-HD Master Audio (5.1 and 2.0 mixes) is likewise, supported by optional English subtitles. The disc itself is Region “A” encoded.
Supplements are limited to a Cohen Media Group-generated “trailer” possibly quite different from the original French and U.S. theatrical ones, and about two-and-a-half minutes of deleted scenes.
Short and sweet, with a running time of just 93 including several minutes of credits, The President’s Wife tells an interesting, mildly amusing story probably unknown to most people outside of France. It’s a trifle, but a pretty good one.
- Stuart Galbraith IV