Jacques Chirac

Acting

Jacques Chirac

Born 1932-11-29 · Paris, France

Jacques Chirac, born November 29, 1932 in Paris and died September 26, 2019 in the same city, was a senior French civil servant and statesman. He was Prime Minister from 1974 to 1976, then again from 1986 to 1988, and President of the Republic from 1995 to 2007. After studying at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris and the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA), he joined the office of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou in 1962 as a special adviser. He was elected Member of Parliament for Corrèze within the Gaullist majority and appointed Secretary of State four times and Minister four times, starting in 1967. Chirac was subsequently chosen as Prime Minister by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1974. Two years later, having had poor relations with Giscard, he resigned from Prime Minister's office and launched the Rally for the Republic (RPR), a political party claiming to be Gaullist. While continuing his career as an elected official in Corrèze, he became Mayor of Paris in 1977 and ran in the 1981 presidential election. After the right-wing victory in the 1986 legislative elections, he was appointed by Socialist President François Mitterrand to serve as Prime Minister once again. He was thus the first head of government under a cohabitation regime under the Fifth Republic and, at the same time, the only politician to have served as Prime Minister twice under the same regime. He was defeated in the second round of the 1988 presidential election by the incumbent president, then became leader of the opposition, despite subsequently facing the growing popularity of Édouard Balladur. In 1995, he was elected Head of State with 52.6% of the vote in the second round, defeating Socialist Lionel Jospin. He initially governed with the right-wing majority he acquired in 1993. The beginning of his first term was marked by a pension and social security reform that was massively contested and partially abandoned, and by the recognition of the French state's responsibility for the persecution and deportation of Jews during the Occupation. Following the dissolution of the National Assembly in 1997, he lost his majority in Parliament and was forced into cohabitation with Lionel Jospin, during which a referendum was held establishing the five-year presidential term: Jacques Chirac was thus the last president of the Fifth Republic to have served a seven-year term. In the 2002 presidential election, he was re-elected for a five-year term with 82.2% of the vote in the second round, benefiting from a "republican front" against the National Front candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen. During his second term, after launching the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), he led the international opposition to the Iraq War launched by US President George W. Bush in 2003 and campaigned for a "yes" vote in the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution, which resulted in a "no" victory. At the end of his presidency in 2007, faced with low popularity and a succession of electoral defeats, and weakened by a stroke in 2005, he decided not to seek a third term. On June 9, 2008, the "Chirac Foundation" for sustainable development and intercultural dialogue was launched. Jacques Chirac died in Paris on September 26, 2019.

Acting credits

In France with Madonna poster
8.5

France is at the heart of Madonna's life. She is inspired by French culture and its values and has surrounded herself with French artists for many years. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Queen of Pop's career, this film revisits the close and unique bond between Madonna and France and features testimonials from close collaborators and French friends who have helped create her unique artistic universe: Maripol, Jean Paul Gaultier, Julien d'Ys, Nicolas Huchard, and Marion Motin. Today's artists such as Florence Foresti, Leïla Slimani, Victor Weinsanto and HollySiz talk about the influence of this emancipating figure, which extends far beyond music.

In France with Madonna

2022

Taxi 2 poster
6.3

A cabdriver and a cop race to Paris to rescue a love interest and the Japanese minister of defense from kidnappers.

Taxi 2

2000

The New Watchdogs poster
7.4

In 1932, the writer Paul Nizan published "The New Watchdogs" to denounce the philosophers and writers of his time who, sheltering behind intellectual neutrality, imposed themselves as true watchdogs of the established order. Today the watchdogs are journalists, editors, and media experts who've openly become market evangelists and guardians of the social order. In a sardonic manner, "The New Watchdogs" denounces this press that, claiming to be independent, objective and pluralist, makes out it is a democratic force of opposition. With forcefulness and precision, the film puts its finger on the increasing danger of information produced by the major industrial groups of the Paris Stock Exchange and perverted into merchandise.

The New Watchdogs

2012

Cent jours poster
6.5

From the first minutes after his inauguration, the newly elected president wants to translate his promises and his campaign project into action. "Change is now", "Change life", "Together everything becomes possible": all campaign slogans promising a break with the past, a change. The first few months were decisive: it was a matter of making a mark, asserting one's style, imposing one's authority and taking the first measures, those that would make a mark on public opinion and set the first lines of the political narrative in history. From 1959 to 2017, the eight successive presidents have acted without delay. Thanks to the many witnesses and actors of these first hundred days, the film retraces the stakes and decisive moments that marked the beginning of each mandate.

Cent jours

2022

Sarah's Key poster
7.3

On the night of 16 July 1942, ten year old Sarah and her parents are being arrested and transported to the Velodrome d'Hiver in Paris where thousands of other jews are being sent to get deported. Sarah however managed to lock her little brother in a closet just before the police entered their apartment. Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist in Paris, gets the assignment to write an article about this raid, a black page in the history of France. She starts digging archives and through Sarah's file discovers a well kept secret about her own in-laws.

Sarah's Key

2010

Mr & Mme Adelman poster
7.5

How did Sarah and Victor get along for more than 45 years? Who was this enigmatic woman living in the shadow of her husband? Love, ambition, betrayals and secrets feed the story of this extraordinary couple, as they experience both the large and small moments of the last century's history.

Mr & Mme Adelman

2017

Mon Chirac poster
8.0

At the close of Jacques Chirac's life, politician Jean-Louis Debré has wished to make a film to celebrate his friend, to tell the story of their friendship and professional understanding, and to make an intimate portrait of the former President of France through the accounts of a few very close friends. Thanks to Jean-Louis Debré's presence, Claude Chirac and some of Jacques Chirac's closest friends, famous or unknown, agreed to talk to the camera, sometimes for the first time, to evoke their untold-before memories and tell about the moments that bonded the two men for a lifetime.

Mon Chirac

2019

Reporters poster
7.0

The co-founder of the Gamma press agency, Raymond Depardon, created this documentary of press photographers in Paris and their subjects by following the photographers around for one month, in October, 1980. In-between long hours waiting for a celebrity to emerge from a restaurant or a hotel, boredom immediately switches to fast action as the cameras click and roll when the person appears. The reaction to the gaggle of photographers is as varied as the people they often literally chase all around town. While some of the celebrities, such as Jacques Chirac who was mayor of Paris at the time, are perceived as comical caricatures, others are shown simply going about ordinary pursuits - including Catherine Deneuve, Gene Kelly, and Jean-Luc Godard.

Reporters

1981

1974, une partie de campagne poster
6.6

Following the 1974 French presidential campaign with Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

1974, une partie de campagne

2002

The Case of the Grinning Cat poster
6.9

Chris Marker’s The Case of the Grinning Cat (Chats perchés) follows the appearance of the yellow M. Chat graffiti across Paris in the early 2000s, using it as a lens to reflect on art, protest, and politics in the post-9/11 era. Blending street imagery with footage of global and local unrest, the film serves as a playful yet pointed companion to Marker’s earlier A Grin Without a Cat.

The Case of the Grinning Cat

2006

Modern Life poster
7.5

For ten years, Raymond Depardon has followed the lives of farmer living in the mountain ranges. He allows us to enter their farms with astounding naturalness. This moving film speaks, with great serenity, of our roots and of the future of the people who work on the land. This the last part of Depardon's triptych "Profils paysans" about what it is like to be a farmer today in an isolated highland area in France. "La vie moderne" examines what has become of the persons he has followed for ten years, while featuring younger people who try to farm or raise cattle or poultry, come hell or high water.

Modern Life

2008

1974, l'alternance Giscard poster
7.0

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became the third President of the Fifth Republic. An alternation of power that did not speak its name opened the doors of power to a reforming president. Abortion, divorce by mutual consent, lowering the age of majority to 18 - in less than two years, the youngest President of the Republic - at the time - carried out reforms with a vengeance, without a united majority in Parliament, before failing in the economic sphere and losing the battle against unemployment. At the age of 90, the former President of the Republic has agreed to look back on these years and gives us a valuable account of his time in power.

1974, l'alternance Giscard

2019

De Charles de Gaulle à Emmanuel Macron, les gardiens de l'empire poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

De Charles de Gaulle à Emmanuel Macron, les gardiens de l'empire

2022

Mohammed VI - The Limits of Power poster
8.0

Twenty-third sovereign of the Alawite dynasty established in Morocco since the seventeenth century, Mohammed VI took over from his father Hassan II in 1999, and from the moment of his coronation, he positioned himself as a "king of the poor", close to the people. Naturally shy, he prefers to act rather than speak, defining a modern style of governance that has earned him great popularity from the start. Married to a young computer engineer, he asserted a policy of liberalization of morals and even made a critical review of the period of repression led by his father during the years of lead. However, he faces opposition from conservatives, which leads to the election of the Islamist PJD (Party of Justice and Development) as head of government, following the Arab Spring of 2011.

Mohammed VI - The Limits of Power

2022

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président poster
7.2

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

2022

Mitterrand et la télé poster
8.0

May 10th, 1981. François Mitterrand is elected President of the Republic. The “soviet tanks” supposedly coming upon the Champs-Élysées dressed in red, feared by some, did not march. Serge Moati takes a personal look at this episode, focusing on the relationship the president had with television, that he witnessed and played a role in.

Mitterrand et la télé

2021

Au cœur du Papotin poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Au cœur du Papotin

2023

Islands poster
7.0

The Maysles' third film about the artists sees them trying to get three projects off the ground: wrapping the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris; wrapping the Reichstag; and surrounding eleven man-made islands in Florida with pink plastic sheets. As the latter is the only one that gets approval, it gets the bulk of this film.

Islands

1987

Balladur-Chirac, mensonges et trahisons poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Balladur-Chirac, mensonges et trahisons

2017

Sanctuary poster
7.2

In the mid-1980s, the GAL, a Spanish paramilitary group, pursues and assassinates members of the terrorist gang ETA who have taken refuge in the sanctuary they have created in the south of France. Grégoire Fortin, advisor to the French Minister of Justice, and Domingo 'Txomin' Iturbe, leader of ETA, are forced to negotiate in order to find a solution to the violence that plagues the region.

Sanctuary

2015

Celsius 41.11 poster
5.5

This film attempts to correct the record when it comes to the left's attacks on President Bush, 9/11 and the war in Iraq and Kerry's 20-year tenure in the Senate.

Celsius 41.11

2004

A Conversation with Gregory Peck poster
7.6

Not your usual film biography, A Conversation With Gregory Peck (2000) goes on-the-road and behind-the-scenes with Gregory Peck and his one man show. The actor's traveling program features question and answer sessions with the American icon and allows the actor to reminisce about his career.

A Conversation with Gregory Peck

1999

Chirac poster
8.5

Faced with President François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac embodied the opposition. In 1986, the right won the legislative elections and he became Prime Minister. After two years of tough cohabitation, François Mitterrand was re-elected in 1988. After a moment of despondency, the Chirac machine started up again. During the referendum on Maastricht, he took a position for the "yes", against the vast majority of his party. In March 1993, the opposition led by Chirac won a crushing victory. Edouard Balladur became Prime Minister. In 1995, Jacques Chirac was elected President of the Republic: thirty years of political life found their fulfillment.

Chirac

2006

Comme un coup de tonnerre poster
NR

Six weeks of exclusive behind-the-scenes access to Lionel Jospin's 2002 presidential campaign, from the strategy rooms to the night everything collapsed. A gripping inside account of France's most shocking political upset.

Comme un coup de tonnerre

2002