Two recent issues of L’avant-scène théâtre feature plays that each, in their own very different ways, examine the relationship between a pair of people with long histories of conflict and amity. In Les Soeurs Bienaimé, playwright Brigitte Buc gives us an unexpected reunion of two sisters in their 40s, Michèle and Pascale, who meet after a 25 year hiatus. Pascale, the younger, long ago fled the dysfunctional family and its rural farm for Paris. Michèle stayed all these years and struggled to care for parents who aged poorly and then died in this provincial community that itself has decayed with time. Now it is Paris that Pascale is fleeing, as her life there has recently been complicated by mental health problems, marital issues, and drug addiction. Michèle is none too happy to have Pascale back, with her notions of rediscovering “authentic village life” and fantasies of converting the farm into a tourist hotel. The interactions are dominated by adolescent-worthy insults, competition, physical scuffles, and recriminations, but in and among the gaps there is some exploration of their shared past and commiseration at their shared dissatisfaction with their separate presents.
I found Les Soeurs Bienaimé rather weak: the themes were well-worn, the characters were flat and unengaging, and the writing was unremarkable. A few days after finishing the play, I happened to listen to an episode of the podcast Le Masque et La Plume that reviewed it, and I discovered that they had a similar critique of it. Glad to have my opinion backed by competent authorities.
Élysée, by Hervé Bentégeat, is an entirely different kind of work, but one that again features two long-time rivals: French Presidents François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac. The play exhibits several imagined but historically possible conversations between them and at various points in their storied political careers.
Mittérand was elected twice back when presidential terms lasted 7 years, and served from 1981 to 1995. Chirac succeeded him and was also elected twice, serving from 1995 through 2007. However, their relationship is far deeper than predecessor and successor. Chirac ran in the first round of the 1981 election as a candidate of the center-right, but was not among the top two vote getters. Those were Mitterrand, a socialist with grandiose ideas, and incumbent President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. D’Estaing had entered office as a center-right candidate, but had moved to be more and more conservative over time, especially on immigration. Chirac had been d’Estaing’s prime minister, but resigned in 1976 and ran against him in the 1981 contest. After his defeat in the first round, Chirac remained opposed to d’Estaing, and his opposition was so intense that he formed an alliance with Mitterrand and threw his support behind the Socialist. It was enough to bring Mitterand to power, and would eventually lead to Chirac being named as Mitterand’s prime minister in 1986. This Left-Right alliance was unusual enough that it earned its own sobriquet: the relationship was dubbed la première cohabitation. It didn’t last long, though, and Chirac quit in time to run against (and lose to) Mitterrand in the 1988 elections. Chirac prevailed on his third presidential campaign in 1995, by which point Mitterrand was old and sick with an abdominal cancer that claimed him a year later. As you can see, the two men had a long, deep, and complex relationship.
The play opens in 1996 with Chirac preparing a funeral oration for Mitterrand and musing on the legacy of the old man, both for the nation and for Chirac personally. From there we go backwards in time, first with a brief scene in 1995 showing the transfer of power from Mitterand to Chirac, and then with another in 1994 showing Mitterand exhorting Chirac to run for president a third time. However the bulk of the play takes place in 1981 and shows the uneasy negotiations around Chirac throwing his support to Mitterand against d’Estaing. The alliance was orchestrated by a third French political figure, Philippe Dechartre. He was a government minister under de Gaulle and then Pompidou in the 1960s, and somehow a trusted friend and advisor of both Chirac and Mitterand. According to the play, Dechartre was instrumental in bringing the two men together in 1981. Historically, Dechartre was indeed the person who arranged to release his own statement of support for Mitterrand, ostensibly a personal opinion but published on stationary branded with the letterhead of Chirac’s party, Rassemblement pour la République. The statement was widely viewed and thought to sway over 100,000 votes in Mitterrand’s direction, well more than the margin of victory.
I don’t know how Élysée comes across for an audience already deeply (or superficially) familiar with all of this French politics from the 1970s, 80s, or 90s. I was only vaguely familiar with the outcomes and knew nothing of the intrigues that made it happen. I knew the names Mitterrand and Chirac, of course, but couldn’t have told you the dynamics of any of their elections. Cohabitation was a hazy thing that I knew the French did at some point, but I was just as likely to confuse it with colocateur if I wasn’t careful. So for me, the play was an impetus to go read several Wikipedia pages about French elections from 40 years ago. But I can’t say I found much else in Élysée to recommend it, and I doubt it will have any staying power as a piece of literature. Still, curious to contrast the “we’re adversaries but not enemies” attitude of French politics back then with the “you are my mortal enemy” attitude of American politics today.
One curious footnote: the play debuted in January 2021 and the role of Philippe Dechartre was played by his real-life son, Emmanuel Dechartre. Dechartre fils is an established stage actor who has been treading the boards since the late 1960s. One has to imagine that he was sought out for this role, if only for the publicity value. He probably does an excellent impression of his father, though, and the age is now right. His Wikipedia page has an extensive list of theatrical appearances, but stopped in 2018. I just now updated it to include Élysée.