User Reviews

A political film from France that holds our attention from the start. We are introduced to a young and ambitious young French man, based in Africa, where he makes the right connections with an influential older gay man, Frederic Saint-Guillaume, who will be responsible for his ascent into the national scene and being instrumental in getting him to the top job of the country.

The president's life is dominated by his love of a daughter, Nahema, a lovely young woman. She meets Mathieu by chance, but is it really a casual encounter? Mathieu, an ambitious young man has an agenda that involves delving into the past of this man that is now the president of the nation. Mathieu proves to be have an uncanny gift of finding a lot about the man now in power. A bitter Saint-Guillaume will be the key figure in what Mathieu will learn.

Lionel Delplanque, the French director of this intriguing film, also co-wrote the screenplay. It is an intelligent approach to reveal what goes on behind the scenes in those higher political circles. Mr. Delplanque gets good performances from his first-rate cast. Vincent Mathias fine cinematography works well. Frederic Talgorn's music plays well in the background.

Albert Dupontel makes a great appearance as the president of the title. Mr. Dupontel gets better with each of his new films, in the tradition of some of the best French actors that have given us so much enjoyment in recent years. Jeremie Renier, a favorite of the Dardenne brothers of Belgium, is a versatile performer judging from his recent screen appearances. He is a joy to watch. Melanie Doutey, a gorgeous new face from France, is seen as Nahema, the president's daughter.

I am a fan of French and European cinema, I like good quality movies and I am often critical about big studios American movies. And yet, dealing with 'President' a film that tries to combine the political thriller with the recent daughters_of_president sub-genre which gave a few movies recently I confess - the American do it better.

The premise of the movie is not very original, a French president who is involved in a web of dirty tricks has to deal with his daughter falling in love with a young economist at a time when his career is endangered by a series of scandals. He hires the young contender as an adviser, but then the conscience of the hero may make interfere in the political action and become a nuisance at the wrong time.

Unfortunately this is where the professionalism of the American movies plays best. This film does not succeed to provide the pace and clarity of the good American thriller movies, and does not supply any special dimension of psychology or social comment either. Whatever pretensions of human analysis the movie may have are lost in ambiguity, it looks like the director did not decide whether his characters are to be positive or negative until the end of the movie. Worse than all he did not decide how to finish history either, and I witnessed here an abrupt ending without any explanation that left me completely puzzled. I understand open endings, but this was not an open ending, this was a no-end ending. If somebody understood it and can explain, I would be very curious to hear.