FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP
Gilles Boyer and Édouard Philippe, here in 2021 at the Séries Mania festival, co-wrote the book “In the Shadow” from which the series broadcast on France2 is taken.
POLITICS – The shadow theater of the former Prime Minister. France 2 is broadcasting the first episodes of the anticipated series this Wednesday evening In the shadowsan adaptation of the eponymous novel published by Édouard Philippe and his closest advisor Gilles Boyer in 2012.
This fiction, divided into six episodes (already all available on France.TV), recounts the presidential campaign of César Casalonga, the henchman apparatchik, played by Swann Arlaudand its candidate Paul Francoeur, played by Melvil Poupaud. A black baron right? And a first trailer for the adventure of the “boss”, Édouard Philippe and his most faithful for 2027?
Certainly, In the shadows is not a documentary, it is a thriller. The presidential candidate is in a wheelchair after a road accident and the plot largely revolves around the discovery of electoral fraud. It is therefore not appropriate to replicate the ambitions and vision of the mayor of Le Havre, already a candidate for the next presidential election. Still. When we know that the former Prime Minister is co-writer of the series and that he is involved in the filming to the point of being present on the set, we cannot help but see in certain dialogues clues to his conception of politics. Even, his upcoming campaign.
FranceTV
The series “In the Shadow” follows the candidate Paul Francoeur played by Melvil Poupaud and his advisor César Casalonga played by Swann Arlaud.
SPOILERS WARNING: The rest of this article reveals certain elements of the plot of the series; Are you sure you want to continue reading? Here we go.
1. Hatred of primaries
The series is first of all a vibrant plea against the primaries. The first two episodes thus show the pitfalls of a fratricidal competition, with a winner paradoxically weakened by the divisions in his camp and the wishes of his defeated competitor. These are all very common arguments among those who criticize this system, and are perfectly highlighted in the series.
“ With this score, it’s whoever loses who wins. We come out divided like never before. She’s going to try to grab everything she can », sums up César Casalonga to Paul Francoeur in the first episode, when his opponent, the very right-wing Marie-France Trémeau (Karin Viard) tries to raise the stakes to confirm his support.
The candidate makes no secret of his annoyance. “ We have seen too many primaries where the loser imposed his views on the winner “, ” In my case it’s the winner who decides. Not the loser. I know it, I lost a lot and no one ever came to ask me my opinion “, he insists. Any lines to soon be found in the mouth of Édouard Philippe? In any case, we already know that the primary is not the preferred method of nomination for someone who, already a candidate for 2027, will have to deal with the many ambitions of his allies.
2. Communication course
In the rest of the series, it is also interesting to note that candidate Paul Francoeur theorizes media discretion as a communication strategy. While a young police officer commits suicide and the hashtag #parcequejenecomptepas spreads on social networks, the presidential candidate refuses, on several occasions, to react directly. The media system, and its horrors, is taking its toll.
Overtaken by his opponents in the presidential election, who went to the hospital or the police station a few hours after the tragedy, pressed by his teams who consider his lack of reaction deleterious, Paul Francoeur does not want to move away from his substantive proposals, on the Rural France in this case. “ The media system is shit, we all know it, but we have to move, we have to put forward our proposals on security », Tells him, for example, his advisor César Casalonga. But nothing works.
Through several exchanges, with his team or the media, the candidate assumes “saying nothing”, and putting “the (media) beast on a diet. » “In 24 hours, under the influence of anger and emotion, would it be necessary to draw up proposals, each more radical than the other? », he gets annoyed, in particular. Does this mean anything to you? On this point, it is difficult to separate Paul Francoeur from Édouard Philippe, as the former Prime Minister likes to cultivate his media discretion, unlike the restless Gérald Darmanin or Gabriel Attal. A strategy that should last.
3. Fear of business
Finally, the fiction seems to reveal certain fears of Édouard Philippe in the race for the supreme election. The entire series is indeed marked by the main character’s (the candidate)’s concern to keep abreast of events and attacks, sometimes below the belt. We also understand that the authors, then the screenwriters, are marked by the irruption of business into politics, and of “rumor”.
Thus, Paul Francoeur’s presidential campaign is punctuated by several concerns of this kind. He is first accused by The Chained Duck of having hidden a master painting without declaring it to the dedicated authorities. “When the plaster is applied, it stays”“ the rumor, the more you deny it, the more people believe it » deplores, for example, the character played by Melvil Poupaud before assuring the Figarowhich he summons to short-circuit the release of embarrassing information: “Rumour is the plague of our time. It will slide off me like rain on a Mallard’s feathers. »
Among the other significant dialogues of the series, we can also cite this tirade “ with the centrists, there are always slamming doors and an agreement at the end », which smacks of right-wing political apparatuses.
Finally, the fiction seems to take the form of a confession, concerning the place of women in politics. Besides the fact that we do not know the name of the only woman in Paul Francoeur’s political entourage, simply referred to as ” Marilyn », It is the tenacious adversary Marie-France Trémeau who best sums up the situation. One of his last tirades in the series? “ A woman in politics doesn’t exist, it’s nothing. I was considered the winner, for my frankness, my ideas, my authority, my charisma (…) I was not expected to win. Everyone who had assured me of their support, men or women, withdrew. Do you know why? Because I am a woman. They preferred to vote for a cripple rather than a woman. France is feminine, power is masculine. » A confession, guilty?
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