Being Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac had been appearing on television since 1967. Millions of hours of footage were left behind. The gestures, the speeches and the hurried processions were all recorded. The film is built from that archive. The telling is done in the first person. An impersonator supplies Chirac’s voice. The man is Didier Gustin. The footage runs like a memoir because of it. The humour of the film comes from one thing. Different speeches by the same man are set side by side. What he said does not hold together. Those contradictions become plain to see. The production was made as a mockumentary. It takes its name from the French title of another film. Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair appear in the footage of the ninety minute documentary. It is a French production Karl Zéro and Michel Royer finished in 2006.