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The Conquest

Play trailer Poster for The Conquest Released Nov 11, 2011 1h 45m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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79% Tomatometer 33 Reviews 50% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Nicolas Sarkozy (Denis Podalydès) deals with marital problems while trying to become president of France.

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The Conquest

The Conquest

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Critics Consensus

The Conquest commendably dramatizes French President Nicholas Sarkozy's rise to power, with a persuasive ensemble and a politically astute script handsomely compensating for a generic visual presentation.

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Critics Reviews

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Stanley Kauffmann The New Republic The Sarkozy story glistens, snakelike. Jun 19, 2013 Full Review Jon Frosch The Atlantic The dialogue is punchy, but the film lacks visual personality, and the insights into Sarkozy and France as a whole don't cut very deep. Mar 7, 2012 Full Review Joe Williams St. Louis Post-Dispatch "The Conquest" is like a French restaurant that serves small portions of tart appetizers and calls them freedom fries, yet begrudgingly we must salute the gall. Rated: 2.5/4 Feb 24, 2012 Full Review Diego Batlle Otroscines.com Even though this is a politically correct film, it still calls it out like it is without half measures. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 6/10 Oct 4, 2022 Full Review Jack Fleischer Battleship Pretension The Conquest carries strong themes of compromise in politics, compromise in love, and asks its characters to weigh the value of all this compromise. Mar 24, 2021 Full Review Kelly Jane Torrance Washington Examiner And so The Conquest promises a juicy behind-the-scenes look at the rise of this somehow seductive little man, but doesn't quite deliver. Rated: 2.5/4 Jan 4, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Really Brilliant, realistic and documented « view from the inside » great actors too Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member good political drama Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member I kept waiting and waiting for "The Conquest" to become the film I had hoped it would be- an off-the-cuff, hard-hitting contemporary political docudrama that paints a portrait of an intriguing candidate, and a marriage that would done-in by his and her ambitions. Indeed, it did show signs of promise, and the cast is top-notch. Unfortunately, "The Conquest" is undone by poor pacing, and it's 1 hour and 45 minutes feels more like 3 hours. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member Fabulous French film that follows the rise of Nicolas Sarkozy from backbencher to President of France, and the dissolution of his marriage to second wife Cecillia that unravels just as his campaign reaches its zenith. There's also great fun in the exploration of the relationship between Sarkozy and his rival Dominique de Villepin and then President Jacques Chirac. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review walter m As Nicholas Sarkozy(Denis Podalydes) wakes up on election day in 2007, it starts out well enough as he wins the vote in New York and Israel. But he is still worrying about the whereabouts of his wife Cecilia(Florence Pernel) and more importantly whether or not she will be voting with him. However, that is nothing compared to five years previously when President Jacques Chirac(Bernard Le Coq), feeling Sarkozy would only lose in a national election due to his conservative politics, chooses Dominique de Villepin(Samuel Labarthe) to be Prime Minister, leaving the Ministry of Interior to Sarkozy. "The Conquest" seeks to dramatize Sarkozy's rise to power by also undermining him by showing that the only way he got elected was in the media's preference of personality over policy. While possibly not wrong, it is a neat trick that the movie never quite pulls off, as it also falls into the same trap by mostly avoiding politics except by mentioning Sarkozy is pro-American.(Which I guess might be the same as being pro-French here in the States, I suppose.) As far as being satire, not much, except for the jaunty soundtrack and one masterful shot that starts with Sarkozy eating alone, before panning to the press who then rush off to cover Villepin on the beach. The only irony comes when Chirac says the socialists will never win an election in France. Who knew? Plus, Podalydes gives one of those performances usually seen on Saturday Night Live where a performer does an impression by picking on a singular personal tic and then hammering it into the bedrock. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Très intéressant et super bien joué. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Conquest

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Cast & Crew

In Harmony 100% 33% In Harmony Watchlist My Piece of the Pie 50% 34% My Piece of the Pie Watchlist The Oranges 31% 32% The Oranges Watchlist A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III 16% 25% A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Nicolas Sarkozy (Denis Podalydès) deals with marital problems while trying to become president of France.
Director
Xavier Durringer
Producer
Éric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
Screenwriter
Patrick Rotman, Xavier Durringer
Distributor
Music Box Films
Production Co
Mandarin Cinéma, Gaumont
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
French (France)
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 11, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$73.9K
Runtime
1h 45m
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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