“I understood that I was going to lose you, that you will no longer be the Paul I knew. I know that you will escape me.” César Casalonga (Swann Arlaud), faithful collaborator of Paul Francoeur (Melvil Poupaud) – right-wing candidate in a fictitious presidential election in 2025 – is counting the days before losing his boss’s ear. THE spin doctora lucid and distant tactician, knows it only too well: the conquest of power is a very different thing from its exercise. For the campaign, “this warrior who serves a master”, sometimes “mechanic”, sometimes “organizer”, assuming the part of cynicism inherent to his functions, is an essential cog in the hope of victory. Even more so when a rumor of fraud during the right-wing party primary (who benefited from it is unknown) threatens to weaken his boss’s candidacy.
After exploring the mysteries of ministerial cabinets with The State Exercise (2011), Pierre Schoeller presents here his first political series. In the shadows* – already available on the France Télévisions platform before the broadcast of the six episodes from October 30 on France 2 – is the story of a thrilling presidential election, freely inspired by the eponymous novel by Edouard Philippe and his faithful Gilles Boyer. A thriller filmed from behind the scenes of a campaign, revealing the setting in motion of the political “entourages”, composed among others of Marylin (Evelyne Brochu), the communications advisor, and the young aspiring advisor “Caligny” (Baptiste Carrion-Weiss ).
“Between Lorenzo de’ Medici and Nicolas Machiavelli…”
The bias reflects this “tendency to give more importance to games than to political issues, to the unofficial rather than the official,” explains political scientist Rémi Lefebvre, co-author of Political series. The power between fiction and truth (De Boeck Supérieur, 2020). “It’s the idea that the most prominent people are not necessarily the most influential: it’s a posture of unveiling,” he concludes. An ancient fascination for power games invisible to the general public and gray powerbrokers. “Between Laurent de Medici and Nicolas Machiavelli, it is often the second that we choose,” notes Gaspard Gantzer, the former Elysee advisor to François Hollande.
This series, where political competition is understood through the eyes of those around it, has an educational virtue. She attempts to translate the unsaid political language, nourished by the experience of Philippe and Boyer (sometimes present on the shoots). We will remember that spontaneity is a non-existent fact of matter. If you examine them with a fine-tooth comb, each public statement (even a seemingly innocuous one coming from an objective ally) can be riddled with low blows. That obtaining support, even within the same group, is the product of intense negotiations. Like Marie-France Trémeau (Karin Viard) unsuccessful candidate in the right-wing primary, and her spin doctor“Texier” (Sofian Khammes), unscrupulous in imposing their programmatic views on Paul Francoeur and his team.
“Fiction represents all these moments outside the public appearance of a leader. When we are outside of all this, we miss 95% of politics”, analyzes for L’Express Arthur Delaporte, MP socialist. “The one that plays out in the corridors, in the back rooms of restaurants, all these less visible arenas,” continues the man who is also a researcher, author in 2020 of an article on “The appearance of parliamentarians’ entourages in series television”, in the French Review of Constitutional Law.
“Many of my young fellow MPs believe they are in Black Baron“
More generally, In the shadows extends the list of series telling the story of domestic politics. A genre that has been prominent in recent years since the success ofAt the White Housea multi-awarded American work; or the hit Danish series Borgennarrating the rise of a centrist to the prime ministership of her country, against a backdrop of intrigue and low blows. In France, the repercussions of Black Baronor more recently Fever – two creations by Eric Benzekri – can be bizarre, as the break between citizens and their political class deepens. “People are disappointed with real politics, perhaps they need fiction to re-enchant it,” observes Gaspard Gantzer.
But the behind-the-scenes prism presents the risk of confining the image of politics to a shadow theater. “This can accentuate the idea that the public must have of the ‘dirty’ side of politics,” says Stéphane Juvigny, former ministerial advisor and author of the book Aesthetics of betrayal (Fayard, 2023). Especially since a socialist parliamentarian observes this mimicry between fiction and reality: “These series have had an influence on reality: many of my young fellow deputies believe themselves in Black Baron.“Even if it means becoming surprising sources of motivation…”After watching the three seasons of the series Borgen which presents the evolution in politics of a strong and independent woman, it is the revelation, the political trigger”, writes on her personal site the macronist Olga Givernet, deputy turned minister.
For their part, Gilles Boyer and Edouard Philippe only ask to be considered as screenwriters, masterminds of a “not real but probable” universe. With a two-tone beard, the candidate is certainly ambivalent, but above all erudite, nuanced… and center-right. Of those who hate “crying with the wolves”, deploring the poor quality of public debate – like the former Prime Minister and candidate for the next presidential election during the last L’Express conference… Curious mise en abyme? Of course not… In this fiction, the challenger is that of a right-wing party, still hegemonic on its flank – which the author of the eponymous novel has, in reality, directly contributed to weakening.
* In the shadows, broadcast on France 2 on October 30, already available on the France.tv platform.
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