LA CONQUETE Poster Mocks President Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy is probably not pleased about a movie recounting his quest for power. He might be even less now that the official poster of La Conquête has been released. And it may offer some hints on the tone of the film.  The image is full of symbolism and mockery, the most obvious one being his small size – Sarkozy’s detractors and almost everyone I know in France often make fun of his height. Perched on a very high stool, a metaphor for both his great ambitions and high functions, his head is cut off as if to say we don’t need to see his face to know who it is. Check it out after the jump.

The poster was designed by the English agency Creative Partnership, which has done the artwork for other political movies, including In the Loop, Armando Iannucci’s Oscar-nominated black satire about Anglo-American foreign policy and the Iraq War. For La Conquête, the agency was inspired by other political flicks such as Nanni Moretti’s anti-Berlusconi feature The Caiman and Oliver Stone’s W.

Directed by Xavier Durringer and starring Denis Podalydès as President Sarkozy, La Conquête will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, the day of its release in French theaters.