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Paris (AP) - The French draftsman and author Mathieu Sapin knows his way around the scenes of power well.
Under ex-President François Hollande, he went in and out of the Elysée Palace between 2013 and 2014.
This resulted in the comic report “Le Château”, “the castle”, as the official residence of the French heads of state is also called.
In his comic report about France's current head of state Emmanuel Macron, which has now also been published in German, the cartoonist bit his teeth.
Actually, after Hollande, Sapin didn't want to do any more political comics.
But when he met Macron for the first time, it had happened to him, so to speak.
Macron simply “seduced” him, he said in a conversation with the German press agency dpa in Paris.
Not in a sexual sense, the 46-year-old laughs on the phone.
Macron simply has an unlikely charisma.
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In “Comédie Française - Journeys into the Antechamber of Power” Sapin describes in quick strokes his encounter with the president.
It all began on the evening of the legendary TV duel between the presidential candidates on May 3, 2017, between Macron and right-wing populist Marine Le Pen.
Sapin was in the studios of the France 2 television station that evening, where the decisive tête-à-tête of the two took place. When Macron spotted Sapin as he entered the lobby, he walked purposefully towards him. He was reading his comic about Depardieu, he said and shook his hand. After leaving the studio, he winked at him and said: «Well then, bye! And see you soon, what? ». So Sapin relapsed.
A true odyssey began.
"You'd have thought that after the first contact, which was surprisingly straightforward, everything would go like clockwork," said Sapin.
Far from it, as he humorously illustrates in his comic report.
The press and communications office blocked wherever possible.
Out of frustration, Sapin began to incorporate scenes into his graphic novel in which he drew parallels between himself and Jean Baptiste Racine, one of the most important authors of French classical music.
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Not because he thought he could hold a candle to the playwright (1639-1699) in literary terms.
Racine was fascinated by Louis XIV and his power and did everything possible to get to the court of France's Sun King.
Similar to Sapin, who spent months trying to get to Macron, who had initially compared himself to Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods.
As an allusion to this, he gave his comic the title “Comédie Française - Journeys into the Antechamber of Power”.
That was frustrating, said Sapin.
Getting to Macron's predecessor was child's play in comparison.
"Hollande liked the journalists," he says.
He was allowed to move freely in the Elysée for his reportage.
“It was like an open bar,” says Sapin.
Thanks to many contacts and not a few detours, Sapin finally managed to find access to the seraglio.
He accompanied Macron on a seven-day tour through the Grand Est border region in November 2018.
In October 2019 he was allowed to take part in the presidential trip to the French overseas territories of Mayotte and La Réunion.
A trip on which «yellow vests supporters» greeted Macron with boos and burned his portrait, as Sapin depicts in a colorful and iridescent way.
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What did sapin learn about the Macron man?
Much and little at the same time.
For example, the French President likes to read comics to relax, is a big fan of film star Gérard Depardieu, prefers to eat pasta like a high-performance athlete before major events, loves long debates and discussions, believes he can do everything on his own, and therefore works all the time.
As Brigitte Macron Sapin told in private, her husband is an art fool.
Even if he is very tired, he never misses a performance or exhibition, Sapin quotes the 68-year-old in his comic.
And before going to bed, he sticks his nose into volumes of poems and philosophical essays or he plays the piano.
Before going to bed - at Macron that means: not before midnight.
Because only when there are no longer any phone calls will Macron meet with his Secretary General Alexis Kohler, says Sapin, France's First Lady.
Macron still puzzles the cartoonist.
The president has no rough edges, he is "smooth," said Sapin.
And how did Macron react to the comic?
With a text message, reports Sapin.
He asked when part two was planned for.
- “Comédie Française - Journeys into the Antechamber of Power” by Mathieu Sapin, from the French by Silv Bannenberg, hand lettering by Olav Korth, May 2021, Berlin, Reprodukt-Verlag, 168 pages, 24 euros, ISBN 978-3-95640-254 -8th.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210514-99-593926 / 2