2023-11-06 07:13:04
Clemenceau, the strength to love
At 9:10 p.m. on France 2
Retired from political life, Georges Clemenceau, now in his eighties, divides his time between contemplation of his garden, his visits to his friend Claude Monet, his gymnastics sessions and writing. The meeting with Marguerite Baldensperger, 40 years old, will upset the monotony of her daily life. Editor at Plon, she suggested that he author a work on Abraham Lincoln, whom he might have known when, as a young doctor, he traveled to America. Clemenceau prefers to work on the Greek Demosthenes.
From professional meetings to intimate confessions, the old scholar with the scathing words and the discreet intellectual see their hearts capsize. The atheist Clemenceau says he is touched by the grace of this woman who is inconsolable over the tragic disappearance of her eldest daughter. “I will help you live and you‘help to die, it’is our pact”, he suggests. This platonic relationship bears witness to 668 letters from Clemenceau, Marguerite having demanded that he burn his own writings out of respect for her husband and children.
Great delicacy
Political journalist Nathalie Saint-Cricq extracted the material for a book, published in 2021 by Éditions de l’Observatoire, and that of the script for this TV film, co-written with Jacques Santamaria. The idyll is approached with great delicacy and restores humanity to this figure of French history, fossilized by legend, while shedding light on that of his soul mate, often absent from official biographies.
If the TV film loses a little of its interest when the dialogue becomes too academic and aligns references to the political context of the time, this extraordinary love story benefits from elegant production and impeccable interpretation. Pierre Arditi plays wonderfully the white bacchantes and the curling eye of this old veteran, who hides his emotions under his grumpy exterior. Émilie Caen reveals her touching sensitivity in the role of this melancholic lover who regains her taste for life.
#Clemenceau #strength #love #Tigers #love