Bernadette and Jacques Chirac’s Driver: Everything is True (or Almost)

Bernadette, a comedy loosely inspired by the life of Bernadette Chirac, combines true and false, real facts and completely fantastical ideas. We also shared 6 pieces of information about the film, which we “checked” here with the director.

The question we ask ourselves after watching the film: Did Bernadette really fire Jacques Chirac’s chauffeur? The story is inspired by reality, yes… but it has been transformed.

Molinier’s character, played by actor Lionel Abelansky, is actually named Jean-Claude Lomond. He was Jacques Chirac’s official driver for 25 years. He also wrote a book about his behind-the-scenes work alongside the president: Twenty-five years with Loui, published in 2001 by Ramsay Publications.

In this interview we learn that, for example, the anecdote about the glasses of alcohol drunk by the driver instead of Bernadette is real.

In the film, Bernadette has a strained relationship with the latter. That’s the reallity? So it was in real life, especially with the driver’s revelations about Jacques Chirac’s personal life. Then he would swear to get rid of her. In fiction, he uses the cavalier method and drinks it so that he is arrested by the police for being drunk. But in reality it didn’t really happen like that.

“We were inspired by Jacques Chirac’s real driver, Lomond, who wrote a book about the Chirac family and Bernadette. In addition, he actually appeared on the Thierry Ardison show, as shown in the film. We just replaced Laumon with Lionel Abelansky thanks to special effectsLeah Domenach explains.

Watch Thierry Ardison’s apprentice driver reception in real life:

“The real story is that Bernadette hated Lomond because it was her alibi for her husband’s infidelity. She tried to get away from him for years, but Jacques Chirac wouldn’t let her. He eventually had skin, but not as we say in the film, he was acting in a much more political long-term way..”

Jean-Claude Lomond also tells his version of the facts on Thierry Ardison’s show above.

In our podcast with Leah Domenach, this clip from the film is explained. It also says more about their approach to this fiction inspired by true facts. “Together with my co-writer, Clémence Dargent, we read and watched everything we could about the Chirac couple, and extracted a large number of short sentences and anecdotes that were used to write the film, chronologically, from 1995, when Jacques Chirac became President of the Republic, to 2007. until the end date of his second term. Once the story was set, we took liberties because we were writing fiction.Leah Domenach explains.

Bernadette with Catherine Deneuve is currently in theaters.