Valérie Trierweiler’s book is captivating France – for
all the wrong reasons
The score-settling memoir is
a tragic and demeaning tale, and should never have been published
Kim Willsher
The Guardian,
Friday 5 September 2014 / http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/05/valerie-trierweiler-memoir-france?CMP=fb_gu
There is a saying in France: l’information s’arrête à la
porte de la chambre à coucher – information stops at the bedroom door.
It was, until the advent of paparazzi and social media, THE
golden rule of privacy for French journalists; a self-censorship that enabled
former president François Mitterrand to maintain a second family – largely at
taxpayers’ expense – with the knowledge of the press but not the voting, paying
public.
Valérie Trierweiler’s score-settling book about her life
with François Hollande, published this week, does not stop at the presidential
bedroom door. It does not even knock politely, but kicks it off its hinges,
trampling taboos, totems, rules and privacy in its muckraking wake. Merci pour
ce Moment (Thanks for the Moment) has no racy sex scenes, unless readers find
the image of a besuited Hollande kneeling on a bed with his head in his hands a
turn-on, but is still a torrid read, described by one French commentator as
“sentimental pornography”. It is also deeply disturbing on many levels.
Benignly billed as a “memoir”, it leaves a sense of grubby
prurience, of things one would wish to but can never un-know and a bitter
aftertaste. It is also on its knees, page after page, begging the question why?
Why would an intelligent, sophisticated woman, and a former
political journalist to boot, write a book that causes random harm to so many,
including the author, and does such a great disservice to women? Why become the
living, breathing embodiment of the sexist old adage about hell and a scorned
woman’s fury? Why gain a certain sympathy, following Hollande’s shabby secret
visits to his lover (his scooter helmet on head, bag of croissants on order)
and even shabbier 15-word public statement “putting an end to their shared
life”, but then exchange this compassion for a nation’s antipathy and
opprobrium?
Most women and men have said and done things to their
partners that they would not wish broadcast to the wider world. Why would
anyone choose to make their jealous rages public in all their ghastly, intimate
detail? Even in the most agonising throes of bitterness, jealousy,
vengefulness, humiliation and heartbreak – and Trierweiler has clearly
suffered– is it right that she put her own woes above the general good? By
targeting the unfaithful love rat of a man, the dignity of the presidency has
suffered collateral damage.
To profess to being leftwing but to question Hollande’s
socialist credentials by claiming, in one of the less credible passages in the
book, that he “doesn’t like the poor”, damages by extension the socialist
government and the French left at a time when they are already battered and
facing a parliamentary vote of confidence. Even if Hollande deserved both
barrels, did France? Was it, unlikely as it seems, for the money, a fat cheque
for more than €500,000?
Trierweiler’s explanation is deeply inadequate. She bemoans
the lies written about her and media intrusions into her private life that, she
says, created a false image of “a woman who had my name, my face, but that I
didn’t know”. Her surprise that journalists have picked only the juicy negative
bits of the book is scarcely believable coming from a former reporter.
One answer lies in the image of Trierweiler that emerges
from her own account: a fragile, insecure and hyper-jealous woman whose shaky
confidence is shattered by the permanent presence of Hollande’s successful ex –
the government minister Ségolène Royal – in the wings. Hollande is portrayed as
cold and uncaring, though it has to be said he did have other things on his
mind – apart from a mistress – including running France.
Two intimate scenes, among many, illustrate her solipsism.
In one, Hollande has just been informed he is the new president and in the
excitement of the moment rebuffs her suggestion about photographs. Unable to
realise that this historic moment is not all about her, she flees to the
bathroom and collapses on the floor. In the second, she complains that in
between meeting Angela Merkel and travelling to Brussels for a summit, they
have had no time to kiss and make up after a row, so she writes a long letter
for him to read before he meets world leaders.
The real answer behind this sorry tale could be that
Trierweiler could not deal with the demeaning role of presidential PR prop and
public property that the role of Premiere Dame, or any kind of political wife
now involves. Nor could she suffer in silence the humiliation of being pushed
out of it. Whatever her motives it is hard to believe Trierweiler failed to
foresee that the fallout from her disclosures would be nuclear.
And if she was looking for sympathy, she calamitously
misjudged the public mood. Ironically, she has unified France’s truculent
political factions. Even Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Front National,
declared it a dishonour on the country. And while it has made the French
president look ridiculous, it may help his catastrophic popularity ratings. Leading
commentator Renaud Dély wrote inthe left-leaning magazine Le Nouvel Observateur
that the French might consider Hollande a “bad president”, but that
Trierweiler’s “repugnant” work was an attack on democracy. “To maintain a
semblance of dignity in the public debate, citizens must reclaim the right not
to know what happens in the president’s bedroom. By dragging us there, with a
detour via the Elysée bathroom, Valérie Trierwieler has attacked that right,”
Dély wrote.
You don’t have to go that far to see this as an indiscreet
and undignified tale that should not have been told – at least not while
Hollande is running France.
SONDAGE. Impopularité record pour Hollande, lâché par
ses soutiens de gauche
Par Paul Laubacher / Le Nouvel Observateur
Publié le 05-09-2014 / http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/politique/20140905.OBS8308/sondage-impopularite-record-pour-hollande-lache-par-ses-soutiens-de-gauche.html
Pour la première fois, la
cote de popularité de François Hollande passe sous la barre des 20% d'opinions
positives, selon notre sondage LH2. La sortie du livre de Valérie Trierweiler
n'a, pour l'instant, aucun effet.
La sortie du livre de Valérie Trierweiler n'aura pas
détérioré de manière flagrante la cote de popularité de François Hollande. Car
si les Français sanctionnent durement le chef de l'Etat, selon notre sondage
LH2, c'est avant tout pour la séquence politique intense des deux dernières
semaines.
Tout de même, et pour la première fois, la popularité de
François Hollande passe sous la barre des 20% d'opinions positives, selon le
sondage de l'institut LH2 pour "Le Nouvel Observateur". Celle-ci
s'établit à 19% d'opinions positives, en baisse de trois points par rapporte à
juillet dernier où elle s'était stabilisée à 22%.
A l'inverse, 81% des Français déclarent qu’ils ont
aujourd'hui "une mauvaise opinion" de François Hollande "en tant
que président de la République", soit quatre points de plus qu'en juillet.
Là aussi, c'est une performance inédite.
Hollande perd ses soutiens à gauche
La sortie fracassante d'Arnaud Montebourg, provoquant la
démission du gouvernement, le remaniement, le durcissement de la position des
"frondeurs", une université d'été du PS à La Rochelle sous tension et
le débat autour de la ligne économique du gouvernement ont eu un effet
"largement négatif" sur la cote de popularité du chef de l'Etat,
analyse l'institut LH2.
La sortie du livre de l'ancienne compagne de François Hollande,
Valérie Trierweiler, n'aura pas participé à la chute de popularité. "Pour
l'instant, l'actualité autour de la sortie du livre n'a eu aucun effet sur
l'opinion des Français à propos du chef de l'Etat. Même si elle n'arrange
rien", note LH2. "En janvier dernier, lorsque l'affaire Gayet a
éclaté, la popularité de François Hollande a augmenté de deux points. C'est
parce que le chef de l'Etat avait annoncé le pacte de responsabilité à ce
moment-là. Il était dynamique."
Mauvaise nouvelle pour le chef de l'Etat, François Hollande
voit sa cote de popularité chez ses soutiens de gauche, les seuls qui lui
restaient, s'effondrer. Les opinions positives à l’égard du chef de l’Etat
passent sous la barre des 50% chez les sympathisants de la gauche, à 45%, en
baisse de neuf points, pour la première fois depuis son élection. Elles
n’atteignent que 57% chez ceux du Parti socialiste, en chute de 11 points.
Valls plonge aussi
La popularité de Manuel Valls chute, elle aussi, en
septembre et montre que Manuel Valls "est définitivement sorti de la
période d’état de grâce dans lequel s’était effectuée sa nomination", note
LH2. Avec 38% d’opinions positives, en baisse de neuf points, Manuel Valls se
situe au niveau atteint par Jean-Marc Ayrault 6 mois après sa désignation, en décembre
2012.
- Enquête réalisée par LH2 pour "Le Nouvel
Observateur"auprès d’un échantillon de 1.037 personnes, représentatif de
la population française âgée de 18 ans et plus, constitué selon la méthode des
quotas, recrutés par téléphone et interrogés par internet les 4 et 5 septembre
2014
FRANÇA
Livrarias recusam vender livro
sobre a vida íntima de Hollande
7/9/2014, 16:31
Fábio Monteiro /
OBSERVADOR
"Nós temos 11.000 livros [na loja]. Não somos o caixote do lixo para a
Trierweiler e o Hollande", lê-se num aviso à entrada de uma livraria
francesa.
As memórias da
relação de Valérie Trierweiler com François Hollande podem ter alcançado o topo
da lista dos livros mais vendidos em França, mas nem todas as livrarias estão
ansiosas por ganhar dinheiro à custa das revelações “explosivas”, conta o
jornal britânico Telegraph.
Ao que parece,
apareceram placas informativas à entrada de algumas livrarias francesas para
explicar porque eles não iriam vender o livro Merci Pour Ce Moment (Obrigado
por este momento, em tradução livre), apesar das vendas iniciais das memórias
privadas do casal francês estarem a ultrapassar os números alcançados pelo
romance erótico As 50 sombras de Grey, no país. “Nós temos 11,000 livros [na
loja]. Não somos o caixote do lixo para a Trierweiler e o Hollande”, dizia um
aviso. “Esta livraria não está a planear tornar-se um mercado para a lavagem de
roupa suja da senhora Trierweiller”, dizia outro.
Nos media
franceses e não só, o livro tem sido visto como um ataque da ex-namorada do
Presidente francês que foi traída. No livro, Valérie afirma que Hollande “não
gosta de pobres” e que a pôs sob numa quantidade “astronómica” de
antidepressivos após a separação dos dois para a manter afastada do hospital.
Entretanto, com
esta polémica, alguns livreiros decidiram aproveitar a oportunidade para
publicitar outros livros que têm nas prateleiras. “Desculpem-nos – Nós não
temos o livro da Valérie Trierweiller mas ainda temos alguns do Balzac, Dumas,
Maupassant, etc…”, dizia uma das mensagens mais criativas.
Jean Birnbaum,
jornalista e editor do suplemento literário do jornal francês Le Monde,
escreveu no Twitter que a “revolta dos livreiros que dizem ‘não obrigado’ está
a espalhar-se rapidamente.”
Segundo o
Telegraph, já foram vendidas cerca de 200.000 cópias do livro – quarta-feira
deve chegar às bancas a nova edição.
Gerard Collard,
dono de uma livraria em Saint-Maur des Fossés, nos arredores em Paris, diz que
as vendas podem chegar ao meio milhão de exemplares.
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