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A classic villain

21st September 2009 by Helena 3 Comments  

You couldn’t make it up. The trial of former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin for allegedly plotting a smear campaign against the man he affectionately calls “the dwarf” and known to the rest of the world as Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France is just the most amazing tale of political betrayal and lust for power.
Just his name is like something from Dangerous Liaisons. Dominique Marie Francois Rene Galouzeau de Villepin. Can you imagine? How his parents ever remembered the whole thing is a mystery.
I have to admit I always found him rather attractive. “At last,” I sighed when he showed up on French news. “An attractive man in politics.” The Silver Fox could certainly have turned me into a Jemimah Puddleduck. He is suave, intellectual and deeply dodgy in a rather aristocratic manner. Just the sort of man we all know we should avoid but can’t help wanting to get close to.

Villepin
Anyway now it seems we may have to queue up at the prison gates to catch a glimpse of him. If convicted of trying to discredit Sarko he will face up to five years behind bars.
But somehow I just can’t imagine it happening. Sometimes villains triumph, but we don’t mind too much. Especially is they are French and rather posh. And taller than the president (which wouldn’t be too difficult).
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009


Filed Under: France, Politics, blog --> Tagged With: classic, villain

3 thoughts on A classic villain

  • Phillip Vanderwarker says:
    22nd September 2009 at 9:59 am

    I understand citizen Robespierre was rather dashing and charming as well ? Viv Le Guillotine!

  • snusmormor says:
    22nd September 2009 at 8:58 pm

    Much better looking than the Italian villain anyway!

  • Elisabeth Loesch says:
    22nd September 2009 at 11:25 pm

    Robespierre’s head rolled. So did Louis XVI’ s. If it’s true that history tends to repeat itself, we can expect some interesting twists in the near future.

    Sarkozy wanted to “Karcheriser la France”. Come on, these men deserve each other.

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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