While 80s Britain boomed to the iron-lunged roar of a Tory Shezilla, our Gallic cousins were ruled by a left-wing enigma: François Mitterand, a contrary political beast who gave fascism a crack before gilding himself into a national socialist emblem.
At first, Robert Guédiguians sombre docu-drama promises to roll up its sleeves and get mucky with the late Mitterands murky legacy but, frankly, its too highbrow for that. Instead, were served a lengthy, rambling dialectic on man-as-nation, as the cancer-ravaged President (Bouquet) hosts a series of closing tête-a-têtes with Lesperts broody Jewish reporter.
Bouquet gives a delicate performance and theres an elegant wintry aura throughout, but its ultimately too scholarly to engage on any level other than the academic.