French state television could be screening a drama-documentary to be made about the Sarkozys by an independent production company because the President feels this may be the best way to influence the content.

If so, it is likely to be a fraught occasion for its head, Patrick de Carolis, who has already crossed swords with Nicolas Sarkozy over his network’s current affairs output, calling the criticism, and by implication the President himself, ‘stupid and unfair’. Left to himself, de Carolis would be unlikely to bid for the project, which is certain to be subject to intense scrutiny by the Elysée Palace.

Sources close to the President say that Sarkozy fears the programme otherwise might be screened by Canal Plus, a profitable subscription channel with a reputation for upsetting the establishment, for example in an in-depth investigation into an alleged oil scandal.

To make the programme Endemol Fiction, a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Endemol that produces Star Academy, has bought the rights to two books about the private life of the Sarkozys. One is 'Ruptures' ('Breakups'), written by TV journalist Michael Darmon and his close friend magazine editor Yves Derai, that recounts the stormy relationship between Sarkozy and his second wife, Cécilia. The other is 'Carla and Nicolas', by journalists Yves Azeroual and Valérie Benaim, that tells the story of Sarkozy’s breathless courtship of Carla Bruni following his divorce four months after taking office. 

Carla collaborated with the authors of 'Carla and Nicolas', so it is 'Ruptures' that is causing the President most concern. One cynical caller to a radio phone-in programme said that he had no reason to worry because unless Carla played herself no-one would watch it; the real life soap opera at the Elysée was much more fun.

From our October 2008 e-newsletter