The President

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Audience Member I wish I could say otherwise, but this movie was very disappointing. One would expect the great Jean Gabin to give a stunning performance in this political intrigue by the great Henri Verneuil, with dialogues by the respectable Michel Audiard. But unfortunately, âLe prà (C)sidentâ? suffers from a very slow fiftiesâ(TM) pace (it is more like a fiftiesâ(TM) than a sixtiesâ(TM) production, even though it is from 1961). The topic as such may be tedious enough (lots of complicated discussions about domestic political issues), but biting dialogue could have made up for potential boredom. But it doesnâ(TM)t in this case. To begin with, we are dealing with present time mixed with flashbacks, which are sometimes hard to separate because Gabin looks like an old guy in both time frames. The opening scene is promising, because it has nice shots of the Champs-Ãlysà (C)es, filmed in the perspective of a police escort taking a British politician to Ãmile Beaufortâ(TM)s (Jean Gabin) country house. The pomp and circumstance plus the light comedy (journalist and bystanders speculating about what important matters the two big shots will be talking about â" which turns out to be no more than something trivial like fishing) in this first scene bring one to a good mood, arousing hopes of more great things to come. But we are about to face disappointment. All we get to see is Beaufort dictating his memoirs to his secretary mixed with confrontations (from the past and the present) with his old rival/opponent Philippe Chalamont (Bertrand Blier, who has played far more amusing roles than this one). Once we get to two-thirds of the movie, hoping for a decisive twist in the story, we begin to realize it wonâ(TM)t come and that what weâ(TM)ve seen so far was basically it. Verneuil has done so much (including some really wonderful things), and like every other prolific director, he is probably bound to let us down sooner or later (watch âLes morfalousâ? and youâ(TM)ll see what I mean). Even Homer sleeps. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The President

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