METRObut where did Edouard Philippe go? While the budget examination ignites the National Assembly and the actors of the new coalition in power – among which is the party of the mayor of Le Havre, Horizons – they are torn for positions of responsibility in the Bourbon Palace, the only declared The candidate in the next presidential election remains invisible. Or almost: we find him on television, while the series adapts the book co-written with his friend and advisor Gilles Boyer, in the shadows (Lattès, 2011), is broadcast starting Wednesday, October 30 on France 2.
Directed by Pierre Schoeller (The Exercise of the State, 2012), the series features a presidential candidate, Paul Francoeur, who won a right-wing primary against Marie-France Trémeau, a determined and unscrupulous woman played by Karin Viard, who told the story in 7 days of television inspired by Rachida Dati. Once he won the primaries, Francoeur launched the race for the Elysée, surrounded by a team of loyal advisors, including one spin doctor devoted, Caesar, delicately played by Swan Arlaud.
Obviously, it is tempting to identify common points between the character of Francoeur, played by Melvil Poupaud, and the former Prime Minister, who declared himself a candidate at the end of the summer in The point. The actor has the same gray beard that Edouard Philippe previously wore and the same field of predilection, education. Above all, like his supposed model, he has a certain idea of politics, prefers to stay out of the fray and is reluctant – with a touch of pride, which can pass for arrogance – to enter the media arena.
While Gabriel Attal and Gérald Darmanin, haunted by the specter of elimination, compete in media interventions, the mayor of Le Havre prefers to tour the French sub-prefectures and meet with local elected officials. He was last week in Tarn and Hérault, this week he will go to Haute-Savoie. The day after the dissolution, he preferred not to return to the crucible of the Assembly, while several prominent figures (François Hollande, Laurent Wauquiez, etc.) made the opposite decision, wishing to exist.
“Gender confusion”
producer of In the shadows, Marie Masmonteil assures that this is not a “key series”and that it would be vain to look for any resonance with the present. The rights to the book were acquired in 2016, when Edouard Philippe was a simple deputy of Les Républicains, far from imagining that he would be named prime minister a year later. Gilles Boyer, who presented In the shadows, At the beginning of October, at the La Baule festival of political and documentary fiction, he swears that Paul Francoeur is not Edouard Philippe: “One is real and the other is imaginary, that’s all. » “We claim the right to fiction”he insists.
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