Last year during the banlieu riots, everyone back home called to see how we were surviving the "war zone." Our area didn't see any car torchings, but in the sense of unrest, our mayor set up a booth in the street and camped out with his team in the evenings to reassure his public face to face.
A few months later, I passed him in the street on a summer evening. A few weeks ago, we saw him going into a store with his wife. Our last encounter was at the sushi restaurant around the corner from my appartment. Walking out of the restaurant with two bags of takeout, I looked up to see Monsieur le Maire holding the door open for me.
He's a friendly guy who always smiles and says "Bonjour." Last month, he organized several meet and greet cocktail hours to personally give town residents his best wishes for 2007- not a bad idea in an election year. His relationship with Nicolas Sarkozy could bring him into higher office should Sarko win the ballot. What strikes me most about our mayor? He looks just like Scottish actor Alan Cumming:
This realization led to hours (that could have been spent productively) of reflection, pondering the casting possibilities should someone make a musical comedy out of the upcoming French presidential elections. It would probably be called something like A l'Elysée! with the permanent ! as popularized in such other musicals as Oklahoma!The Interior Minister/UMP party's candidate would be played by Dustin Hoffman, taken back a few years to match Sarkozy's age of 52. (Yes, in this fantasy time travel is possible. And Hoffman's played everything from an autistic to a cross dresser, so I see no reason why he couldn't do a French political figure.) In the 2nd act, he'd break out in song saying that, during the 2005 riots, the reaction to Sarkozy's use of the word racaille was blown out of proportion. He'd defended himself on a tv interview later, stating that if you see a kid lighting a car on fire, you're not going to address him as Monsieur. He's got a point there, our Nicolas. And in any case, my dictionary translates racaille as riff raff. It's hard to get worked up over someone calling you a name that hasn't been in wide use since the '60s. Is it really going to get to you if someone calls you a scallywag? You'd probably have to look it up before having a laugh that someone would actually use that word. Anyway, here's one of our leading men:
For the elections' leading lady, the role of the Socialist party's number one gal goes to our friend Anne. I don't know if Anne can even sing or dance, but that doesn't matter. She gets the part simply because everywhere she goes, everyone always tells her she looks like Ségolène Royale. Luckily, Anne doesn't read English and isn't into blogs, because she's getting tired of those comments and would very likely roll her eyes that I'm posting this. Anyway, her opening solo could be "My Opinion is the Opinion of the People," the answer Sego gave when asked her opinion on Turkey possibly joining the European Union. She's had a few blunders along the way, but she just outlined her plans as president, which include a guarantee for every university graduate employment or further training within 6 months of graduation. That's nice, but how? Hmm.... she'll need a dance solo.
Last but not least, is the part of the faaaar right's Front National leader and presidential hopeful, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Extreme as the party's views are, Le Pen fared surprisingly well in the last presidential elections, winning enough votes to get into the second round. As seen in the photo below, Jean-Marie is about to bite this lady just like he'd like to take a bite out of immigration. He'd like to bulldoze the cités (France's projects, on the outskirts of big cities), expel immigrants believed to contribute to unemployment and unrest, and bring back the death penalty. Talk about putting the party in political party! I can't think of the right actor who's got the bite (ha ha, groan) for the part, so until then, let's substitute with an attack dog.
After that, there's the UDF's François Bayrou and the Green party's Dominique Voynet, neither of whom strongly resemble actors, so we'll not worry about their casting for the moment. Let the show continue....
