Controversy swirls around Mitterand film

PARIS, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A film about the late French President Francois Mitterand is creating controversy even before its general release, The Telegraph reported Tuesday.

The first contentious point about "Le Promeneur du Champ-de-Mars," or "The Walker in the Champ-de-Mars" is its timing -- never before has a biography been released so soon after its subject's death. The country's only socialist leader died of prostate cancer in 1996.

Due for general release Wednesday, the film has been screened privately for Mitterand's family, although his widow, Danielle, has vowed not to see it. His illegitimate daughter, Mazarine Pingeot, said after seeing the film it was "not at all my father". But she said she could live with the portrayal.

Robert Guédiguian's film is loosely based on a best-selling but highly controversial book, "The Last Mitterrand," by Georges-Marc Benamou, who also co-wrote the script. The role of the president is played by one of France's most respected stage actors, Michel Bouquet, 79.

An opinion poll published by the conservative daily Le Figaro showed Monday French voters overwhelmingly remember Mitterrand as cultivated and committed, but also mysterious, opportunistic and short on honesty.