Being Jacques Chirac

Peau actually means skin, but is used the way we use shoes in English proverbs. "Se mettre dans la peau de quelqu'un" means to put yourself in someone else's shoes. "Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac" should best be translated as "In the shoes of Jacques Chirac".

I saw this film recently, a wonderful combination of a documentary and satyr. 40 years of archive footage was used with real talks and discussions from people, including Chirac himself. One thing I like about Chirac is that he speaks French in a very cultured way. Good way to improve your French, especially if you live like me in the Provence and are constantly exposed to the local dialect.

The film is of course unauthorized but at first glance very factual. The anti-Chirac bias comes from the selective use of footage, many times out of context. But it is less poisonous and therefore more credible than Michael Moore's Ground Zero, which I, as a native New Yorker, really detested. What a crap - Michael Moore was the Republican Party's best campaign manager! French like and understand the nuances. For many of my American compatriots you have to put things very blunt to make the point. Just look at TV ads here in France and in the US and you know what I mean. The main effect of "Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac" comes from the chameleon like transformation of Chirac over the years in his quest for power. This is shown very effectively through his contradictory speeches given on the same subject over time. But you probably have to live in France and be interested in political and socio-economic issues to really understand it.