Charles de Gaulle
A biopic about Charles de Gaulle has been a hit in France, with more than 5.5 million viewers, perhaps because his insistence on independence seems prophetic in the current European context.
De Gaulle's life contrasts with the irresponsibility in French politics today, where politicians delay and deny needed changes, and pass on risk, with the country's debt being 118% of its gross domestic product.
France's politicians are evading their duty to face facts, with examples including Jean-Luc Melenchon's proposal to "chuck" part of the country's debt "in the fire" and Marine Le Pen's plan to lower the retirement age, which would hurt the country's solvency.
A lengthy, two-part biopic of a mid-century politician would be an unlikely hit in most countries. But not, apparently, if the politician is Charles de Gaulle and the country is France.
The films based on Julian Jackson’s 2018 biography of the general - A Certain Idea of France by Julian Jackson – the life of Charles de Gaulle.
The historical figure the French most admire, the man nicknamed the ‘emperor of France’, was proud, arrogant, charming, pragmatic
On 26 August 1944, General Charles de Gaulle took a high profile walk on the Champs-Elysées. The leader of the Free French had arrived in Paris the previous evening, a day after his advancing troops, and had declared himself president of the newly liberated republic.
In a city still swarming with snipers, a walkabout was risky but, as Julian Jackson says, it was “a supreme example of De Gaulle’s instinctive showmanship”.
Perhaps that’s because the sovereignty-obsessed, America-distrusting de Gaulle is the 20th century’s most vindicated man.
In a France facing an apparently irreversible decline — and a Europe unable to break free of the US, threatened by Russia and outproduced by China — his insistence on independence seems prophetic, and his demand for grandeur cathartic.
Mihir Sharm Bloomberg 22 September 2026
Vive de Gaulle! Vive Annika Ström Melin!
“A Certain Idea of France: The Life of De Gaulle” Boris Johnson
”Macron vill vara de Gaulle, men kan sluta som Chirac”
https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2025/02/vive-de-gaulle-vive-annika-strom-melin.html
A superb new French two-part biopic of Charles de Gaulle, “La Bataille de Gaulle”.
Directed by Antonin Baudry, an ex-diplomat, it is—unusually for a French production—based on a British biography, “A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle”.
The Economist 1 September 2026
https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/2-september.html
Charles de Gaulle hade inte givit upp den franska francen för att byta ut den mot euron.
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