Karl Zéro’s latest political documentary is entitled Ségo et Sarko Sont dans un Bateau, which translates literally as Ségo and Sarko are in a Boat, but perhaps the scene that most accurately portrays the movie’s message takes place in a train.

Nicolas Sarkozy, right wing presidential candidate and until recently Minister of the Interior, is shown glad-handing on an RER train, one of the network of commuter trains that connect Paris with its outlying suburbs.

Sarkozy chances upon a middle-aged businessman, probably hoping he’s found a kindred spirit.

The man, with an air of disgust, scoffs at Sarkozy’s thinly veiled attempt at connecting with the masses, asking him why he should talk with him, telling Sarkozy he knows as Minister of the Interior he never rides the RER but is usually chauffeured around town.

Sarkozy unconvincingly attempts to tell him that being “the Minister of the Interior is not so enviable a job”, but the man doesn’t buy it, essentially scolding him for pretending to be one of them.

And so it goes for Sarko and his number one challenger for the race to the presidency, Ségolene Royal.

Despite its perks, politics is not always an enviable job.

Zéro, whose César-winning 2006 documentary Dans la Peau de Jacques Chirac (Under Jacques Chirac’s Skin) poked fun at the current inhabitant of L’Elysée, now rocks the boat of the top contenders in the current election.

He shows them in few of their finest moments, and more often their worst.

Each candidate seems to have been hit in the face with more pies than a Vaudeville actor, and Zéro has the footage to prove it.

As he did with Chirac, he has again dug into the political video archives to string together the stories of Ségo, the Socialist Party candidate, and Sarko, of the UMP (Union for a Popular Movement).

In so doing, the audience is treated to shots of a 20-something political upstart Sarkozy with long, wavy hair and a much less polished Royal, with those huge eyeglass frames that were strangely popular in the 80s.

Through the years, each undergoes a physical transformation.

Sarkozy’s hair gets much shorter and close-cropped, his demeanor more calm.

Royal discovers makeup, contact lenses, shampoo and conditioner.

Yet both remain essentially the same.

Both present themselves as hard-working people who have overcome setbacks to get where they are now, knocking on the door of the highest office of France.

Royal had to overcome male chauvinism from everyone including her own father, who believed a woman’s place was in the home, and Sarkozy has had to resurrect his political career many times through the years.

Zéro, appearing often on screen with a glass of cognac and a roaring fire behind him, narrates the tale with witty aplomb, never letting the audience wait too long between clever jokes at the candidates’ expense.

An experienced political commentator and humorist, Zéro gets up close and personal with the candidates and presents them as human beings.

When Sarkozy playfully grabs Zéro’s notes during one sit-down interview, and when in another he and Zéro crack each other up so hard Zéro has to re-ask his question, one sees a certain charm in Sarkozy, not always evident on the campaign trail.

Zéro uses the ‘tu’ form easily with Sarkozy, but there is a decidedly larger distance between him and Royal.

While Sarkozy comes across as a prankster, Royal appears stiff and unsure of herself, much as she does to the public at large at times.

Zéro ably shows the viewer that Ségo and Sarko are more than just figures in a political cartoon, and he is not afraid to pack a bit of a punch on occasion as well.

Video images from the ’05 riots accurately portray the tension that exists between the political establishment and the voiceless poor immigrants, who when given their chance scream at Sarkozy during his trip to the banlieues during that stressful fall.

Another scene shows a group of homeless illegal aliens, huddled together in some sort of stone shelter on a cold winter night, the only audio the whistling of the wind through the cracks in the stone.

Zéro’s overall message is that these two candidates are just people.

They don’t have all the answers.

They stumble over questions from interviewers, they get angry when people throw things at them, and they do stupid things.

And, at least in their own minds, they try to do some good along the way.

On one level, the film is an appealing 1 ½ hour gag reel where the French can laugh at their would-be leaders, but there is more to Zéro’s documentary than a series of funny outtakes.

Zéro speaks on the premise that one of these two people will become president very soon.
His film shows that neither is the perfect candidate.

Each is far from a perfect person.

Just like each of us.

In the end, that idea is at once comforting… and terrifying.

Read more of Stephen Leonard's views on Paris at http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/r_kent/, where he writes under the name R Kent.