The President's Wife

In The President's Wife, Léa Domenach's whip-smart feature film debut based on true events, Bernadette Chirac (Catherine Deneuve) arrives at France's presidential Elysée Palace in 1995 expecting to finally get the place she deserves. Frustrated and all but cast off, Madame Chirac had always worked in the shadow of her newly elected husband, Jacques (Michel Vuillermoz), helping him become president. Long the woman-behind-the-man and marginalized because she is considered too old-fashioned, Bernadette decides to take her revenge by becoming a key media presence. Madame Chirac's rise from invisible political spouse to major figure—as calculated as it was inevitable—is chronicled with equal parts reverence and wit, driven by Deneuve's wryly memorable central performance.