The President's Wife

Does she make compromises along the way that sell out her convictions and even members of her family? Yes. But does being on TV all the time mean that Karl Lagerfeld shows up so that she won't be wearing last year's Chanel? Also yes.

Deneuve is delicious in a role affectionately crafted for her.

At times playfully quaint and others sharply witty, the film maneuvers an environment of stuffy prestige and constant charading with deft hands

It's all treated lightly and without a shred of angst, and Deneuve -- serene and bemused by the various idiocies she has to confront -- is just the icon to pull it off.

While Deneuve brings a wonderful blend of neuroses and feigned indifference to her character, the film’s pop-feminist through line dulls the comedy, creating a more conventionally celebratory portrait.

Catherine Deneuve doesn’t just play Bernadette Chirac in 'The President’s Wife'—she rewrites the part history forgot.


While mileage may vary depending on your history with the film’s subject, 90 minutes with Deneuve is rarely ill spent.

The President’s Wife is a low-key comedy but outstanding for this period of humorless politics.

To whatever degree any of The President’s Wife is funny, insightful or affecting, that potential begins and ends with the casting and performance of Catherine Deneuve.


This wildly entertaining film blends stylish family soap opera with intriguing behind the scenes political drama, and gives the brilliant Catherine Deneuve a great late career role as Bernadette, the former First Lady of France