At the end of 'Le bon plaisir' (1984), the film directed by Francis Girod, before the credits, a routine disclaimer is displayed stating that the story and the characters are imaginary. In fact, the relationship between this film and reality is much more complicated and interesting. 'Le bon plaisir' is the screenplay of the novel of the same name published a year before Francoise Giroud, who also wrote the screenplay. These were the first years of Francois Mitterrand's tenure as the first socialist politician to become president of France. Françoise Giroud, a well-known journalist and writer, editor of 'Elle' magazine, co-founder and editor of 'L'Express', was a former Minister of Culture in the center-right governments that preceded the Mitterrand era. It was rumored that the new president had a daughter from a secret relationship outside of marriage. 'Le bon plaisir' is about a French president who has a child from a secret relationship, out of wedlock. Were the book and the movie inspired by these rumors? Worse perhaps, politically tendencious? Or was it just a coincidence? Or one of those cases where reality immitates fiction? The fact is that a decade later, in 1994, President Mitterrand's extramarital affair was revealed. His daughter was 20 years old, so in 1984 she had been exactly the same age as the child in the movie.
The story in 'Le bon plaisir' revolves around a lost letter that triggers a political-sentimental intrigue. The beautiful and elegant Claire (Catherine Deneuve), designer and owner of an elegant apartment in Paris, is robbed of her bag in the street. In the stolen purse there is a letter from her ex-boyfriend who is none other than the President of the Republic, a letter containing a secret that may compromise the career and presidency of the politician. Soon, the interior minister, the secret services, the scandalous press will rush into Claire's life to reveal or protect, at any cost, the secret.
The film begins and develops in its first half as a political thriller, then seems to take the path of a political and 'good feeling' family comedy to end in political drama. The first part seemed to me the best, the story is well written, and the action kept me alert. The comedy part, on the other hand, is too diluted, except for the ridicule thrown at the pompous French republic in which the presidents live in the palaces of dethroned and beheaded kings and adopt their lifestyle. The ending is too short and abrupt to have the desired impact. Catherine Deneuve is beautiful and luminous, in this again it is impossible again not to fall in love with her. Jean-Louis Trintignant struggles with a character which is too schematic, a too dislikable president to be truly detested and who reveals nothing of the reasons why he could have been loved or adored by those around him, let alone elected president of France. Michel Serrault, on the other hand, is excelling in his more consistent role as a devoted interior minister. Also starring are Michel Auclair in an interesting and ambiguous role of a mysterious and highly connected editor and Hippolyte Girardot as the young man who triggers the whole story with a theft in order to satisfy the whim of a girlfriend who has left him in the meantime. 'Le bon plaisir' is a watchable movie even today, an entertainment film that satisfactorily passes the 37-year-old exam (well, except for the phones), but it is also one of those cases where the story around the film is more interesting than the movie itself.
