Original subtitles

YES FROM THE LEFT PUBLIC MEETING TODAY, 6 P.M.

It was packed. We turned people away.

-That's a sign. -That Yes can make a comeback?

I would even say that Yes can win the referendum.

Isn't that autosuggestion? Yes has stagnated at 40%.

Wait. People have one right: to elect a president,

and we want to remove that right. Of course, they'll initially say no.

No has the dynamic. That's normal. But it has hit its limit.

60% for No and the dynamic is over?

What is a dynamic? A gathering of strength aimed at development.

An expansion.

If you don't know the definitions, we won't get very far. Get a dictionary.

You're the journalists, not me.

In the end, the Yes has one problem: Dorendeu.

She's dragging us down. When she talks, we lose three points.

That's why I had to add "from the left" after the "Yes."

On the other side, Michel is royally messing up.

Vidal and Dorendeu are like Dastardly and Muttley.

"Oh, Dastardly!"

-That's off the record. -What's the comeback strategy?

The undecided are the key: 42%.

The French will only show interest at the very end.

-Films are the same. -Films?

When picking a film, we'd do research,

read the synopses and we knew what we were seeing.

Now, with streaming, people stay at home and decide at the last minute.

Two minutes before, they had no idea. Politics is the same.

Voters form their opinion at the last minute.

So, get ready for a totally different film!

Hi, Philippe.

Yesterday, campaigners found leaflets chucked in the garbage.

It's sabotage. The Socialists aren't playing ball.

Before it was passive resistance, but this is plain sabotage.

The joint rallies are priority.

About that. The big names pass the buck or send a stand-in.

And Kalhenberg?

He's like everyone else. He can read the polls.

-Who is it? -He always has an excuse.

-Dupraz. -He hides while we're on the front line.

I'll talk to him.

-What about Véro? -What about her?

If she joined the Yes, politically, it'd give us a boost and financially...

I wouldn't turn away the region's money.

Véro is complicated.

Soon, it will get complicated for everyone.

Aurore, we'll talk tomorrow. Okay?

She's going to walk out.

Dupraz was always a spoiled child.

I'm going to lose everything I built. Strength always follows strength.

We're in a spiral. You know how it starts, but not how it ends.

I can come back from defeat, but not a thrashing.

If we come out with 32 or 30... Can you imagine?

Don't say no, it is possible.

I'm not saying no.

There are three weeks left.

You can't look to the future. You need damage control.

It's military medicine. Basic survival, leave the rest for later.

-Any ideas? -Amélie.

No way! My whole strategy is distancing my Yes from hers.

Otherwise, I'm siding with her.

Is it working?

So call her. Meet her.

And do what you do best. The Black Baron.

You must help her campaign. Or you'll fall with her.

-Good morning, sir. -Good morning.

Thank you.

Shall we take a walk?

Since the campaign launch, I suggested to unite our forces.

Not only did you refuse any coordination or joint rallies,

in every interview, you lay into me with all your might.

Two months on, this is the result.

The Yes is lagging behind and it could fall further.

-We need to stand united now. -They'll say we're panicking.

It stinks of defeat and no one wants to be a loser.

If you keep saying Yes will win, they'll worry about your sanity.

Yes will win. My strategy is good. But it can't be done by halves.

What do you mean?

Disappear.

Not a word or image of you until the vote.

You're ruining the campaign, Amélie.

For many, the referendum question is secondary.

It's your referendum. It is for or against you.

You may find it unfair, but it's automatic.

With you, No gains support. It's best to stay quiet.

Do you really think I'll stop campaigning?

Not straight away. We need a final statement.

Whatever the result, you won't resign.

Nobody will vote No in the hope that you will step down.

-Then, radio silence. -That would be an admission of weakness.

Seeming weak is not important if you finish in a strong position.

So I step away from the campaign.

And de facto,

you take over the Yes camp. Obviously, by doing that,

you create political space for the future.

-Everything has its price. -Why would I accept that?

You don't have a choice.

I think this constructive meeting is coming to a close.

I don't regret pushing you to become president.

It was urgent and bought us some time before the catastrophe.

Let's be honest, you became president too quickly, too young.

Before I finished training you.

Your profound and detailed explanations on the meaning of life

have been deeply missed, Philippe.

You're like every president before you. Isolated, closed off,

disconnected and above all, hated. You have no idea how hated you are.

I hear it everywhere I go.

They hate you. Total, radical, profound hatred.

Who dares to tell you that? Lambray? Duverne?

Borde? They wouldn't dare.

Anyway, they're living in a bubble too. Yours.

I won't show you out. You know the way.

-Yes? -Hi, Michel.

-Hi, Michel. -Have you seen the horoscopes?

The Yes has fallen below 40.

39% on today's rolling IFOP poll.

The big lesson: Dorendeu and Rickwaert have made a big mistake

by thinking that proposing a fair idea is sufficient to get support.

If that were the case, I'd have been president for 20 years.

What's wrong? You look ten years older than me.

Duvivier, from L'Humanité, told me what Rickwaert said off the record.

Another lesson: there is no such thing as off the record.

He lumped you with Dorendeu by comparing you...

To Dastardly and Muttley.

Excellent. Am I Dastardly or Muttley?

Well, it all seems to be ancient history to you.

A cartoon. Dastardly and his dog Muttley are baddies, nasty baddies,

who perpetually fail at catching a nice, very clever pigeon,

despite increasingly wacky strategies. I loved it.

For Rickwaert, it's an insult.

You can't run for president with a traitor who wants you to lose.

-Exclude him. -Him and all the Yessers.

Dupraz, Zineb, Sika, Ostovany. Cut loose.

Another lesson: killing a dead man is pointless.

Worse than that, you risk reviving him by making him the victim.

We'll do the contrary.

The No will finish with a crushing victory.

The people will have cut through the controversy in my favor.

We're ready to do my favorite thing:

create a new persona.

The Michel Vidal who will win the presidential campaign

will have achieved an unimaginable transformation.

The traitors will have tarnished and insulted him, however,

he spares them. The opposite to the tyrant they described.

I become the wise one who can pardon those who strayed.

What if he starts again?

On what line? The union? Now that my victory is absolute,

I'll take up the mantle.

Michel, we can't make a left-wing union. The people wouldn't tolerate it.

Maybe. But if we're not in the union,

or worse, it's against us, it closes the doors of power to us.

To avoid that, the best way is to do it ourselves.

I'll announce that we need to go beyond Yes and No and that it's time

to unite with the ecologists, the humanists, and anyone else,

the moment I am their champion to beat Dorendeu.

We're going to bleed Rickwaert dry, every last drop.

After the Prefect's welcome, we're meeting the local MPs.

I included all their names and mandates in the introductory dossier.

Dorendeu dictatorship!

Stop here.

Dorendeu dictatorship!

Hello.

Dorendeu dictatorship!

I think I got the message. Can't we debate it?

-What do you think? -Dorendeu dictatorship!

Explain to me why you think France is a dictatorship.

Because you stole the power.

The power is the people's and you took it.

The people voted for me. It is called democracy.

That isn't true democracy.

This may surprise you, but I partially agree.

Though I wouldn't express it in the same way.

The aim of the referendum is to democratize our institutions.

What difference will it make?

A whole assembly of crooks instead of just one. It's the same.

You stole the power. You're the banks' puppet!

-Dorendeu dictatorship! -I won't allow such nonsense.

And there's the scornful remarks.

I came to you, to listen to your arguments, your insults...

Step back!

She's the criminal.

Step back.

LIVE. WHO HIT THE PRESIDENT?

People say he supports Brittany's independence.

Nonsense. It's about the referendum, not Brittany.

"Yannick Kerson...

Unemployed. No criminal record,

not linked to any political party or group."

Bullshit. The question is who is he linked to?

-Chalon? Vidal? -Wait. Listen to this.

"According to a source, and traces on social media,

Yannick Kerson seems to admire Mercier." That figures.

What figures? Who is this Mercier?

The science teacher who posts videos online.

-He gets thousands of views. -A science teacher?

Yeah. Christophe Mercier.

What kind of videos? Kittens with test tubes?

No, political videos.

-A science teacher? -Yeah.

Okay, I get it. Conspiracy theories.

Not really. More like anti-establishment.

-A fascist then. -No. He labels France as a dictatorship,

that the elections are a sham and that it isn't true democracy.

That figures. He's a corrupt Indy.

-An Indy? -An independent.

Proudhon, Bakounine. An anarchist.

Dad, you can't put 150-year-old labels on people!

This Mercier guy must be left or right wing.

His model is Athens. Selection by lot, instead of elections.

Selection by lot... Who watches this?

Young people, old people. Loads of different people actually.

Do you like him?

I think he's weird, but with people I know,

friends of friends, Mercier is very popular.

No, I'm fine. I promise. The images are deceptive.

-It was incredibly violent. -The slap wasn't the most violent thing.

It was the manic look on his face.

-A lunatic, you mean. -There was so much hatred in his eyes.

He wanted to scare me.

I hope he pays for it.

He's going straight to court.

He should be judged by a real dictator. So he can learn the difference.

Olivier, I miss you.

I miss you too.

-You're coming back on... -The 19th.

New York to Paris at 7:44. Leaving from JFK.

-I have to go. -Lots of love.

The talking points for the party, the ministers and MPs.

No. I don't want to be victimized. I'm not Cosette or Cinderella.

It isn't a strategy. You are the victim of an attack.

It may be the vote's turning point.

All have condemned it.

We need to cleverly move with the wave of sympathy which will favor you.

If we focus on the attacker, we make him a martyr.

-He's an unemployed former executive... -I'm listening.

...on welfare. I'm the State. The famous Dorendeu dictatorship.

Believe me. After stories on poverty and abandonment of peripheral France,

-the executioner becomes the victim. -Christophe Mercier.

He's been polluting the internet for years with his anti-democratic tirades.

The attacker often read his blogs and shared his content.

His actions are unsurprising.

We also know that under questioning

Yannick Kerson admitted meeting Christophe Mercier two weeks ago.

-That was Homeland. -Great.

You must press charges.

He's the ideal target. You're not the victim of a madman,

but a risky ideological trend fronted by Mercier.

Did Kerson say Mercier encouraged him?

-No, he's protecting him. -So Mercier isn't behind it.

We could establish aiding and abetting.

Like the link between Daesh propaganda and the actions of lone wolves.

Does Mercier incite violence on his site?

-Not explicitly. -It won't hold up.

Mercier will be summoned as an assisted witness and that's all.

They met! Mercier is the principal.

The President cannot be a victim.

Yes can't win by pretending I'm something I'm not.

They hate me.

It's the only conclusion.

I regret that nobody here was capable of or wanted to make the diagnosis.

There's only one way to get back on our feet.

Admit the reality of the hatred and draw on the consequences.

By deciding to act immediately with a solemn address,

Amélie Dorendeu wants to "mark the moment" after the attack...

It's 8 o'clock. Here's the President.

My fellow citizens, as you know, this morning, in front of...

Shit!

Damn it.

Shit.

Hello. Put France Info on, please.

-Sure. -...unacceptable violence.

-Where to, sir? -Shh, turn it up.

Turn it up.

...nor the hate inciters behind screens, nor the petty acts of violence...

-I can't stay here. -Go anywhere, but shut up.

...my determination to take this debate to the end.

Nobody will stop me

from meeting with the French people around the country.

How stupid can she be?

No one will influence this vote.

To be totally clear, whatever the outcome,

I will finish my term in office as voted by the French people.

There, Amélie! You can when you want to.

This referendum is not about me.

Switch it off.

Where are we going?

Don't forget to call Jacqueline to give us the rundown of...

The No is strong on the radio today!

I mean, my total outrage and strongest possible condemnation

of the despicable attack on the President.

Though you'd think it was a terrorist with a machete!

I've said it 7 times since yesterday. They'll keep asking.

Meanwhile, nobody's mentioning the actual crux of her speech.

After a failed referendum, the President must take responsibility and resign.

Like de Gaulle in 1969.

Though there is deep logic in Dorendeu's politics...

Liquidate the General's legacy.

Great expression... I'm sorry I didn't think of it myself.

Take it. I'm giving it to you.

I haven't used it yet and it suits you better.

Go on, or you'll be late.

Please! We have one statement to make.

My client, Mr. Mercier, has answered all questions.

He has been released due to unfounded claims

as we clearly demonstrated to investigators. Thank you.

No other statements will be made.

Did you meet Yannick Kerson, the President's attacker?

Yes, two weeks ago, at his request.

-Let him speak, damn it! -Where did you see him?

I can tell you that Yannick Kerson is suffering.

He asked for help, but this was ignored.

He has been abandoned.

No MP or responsible party, or "irresponsible" as I call them,

no one met him, no one listened.

So in the end, he turned to me.

Should I have shut the door?

Yannick Kerson is suffering.

-What did he talk about? -His shame of being poor.

For listening to his pain, I got six hours of questioning.

While the MPs, whose job it is,

are rushing to condemn this man whom they know nothing about.

-You don't condemn the attack? -I understand it.

Everyone condemns it!

-Who? -Politicians, from Chalon to Vidal.

Of course the irresponsible politicians condemn it.

They pretend to disagree,

but in reality, the block defends its own interests.

They defend themselves, protect themselves and cover each other.

But the people have been taking hits for years without any condemnation.

Mr. Mercier, could you be accused of inciting violence?

I have been conditioned by my job: I see things with a scientific eye.

Society is like a living organism. Its electoral system produces MPs,

like a growing tumor that stops the organism from functioning.

So it defends itself

by triggering an immune response. It can be violent.

The social body reacts to neutralize the tumor,

stop its spread, and in short, eradicate evil to return to democracy.

Mr. Mercier, the President presents the referendum as a way

of democratizing institutions. What's your view?

Would you try beating cancer with homeopathy?

-What would you propose... -Thank you.

The daily poll should be heartwarming for Yes supporters as it rises to 43%,

even if the gap remains sizable.

Yes, but for the first time, we can see a momentum change.

As this poll was taken two days ago,

after the attack on Amélie Dorendeu,

it confirms the impact of this event on the campaign.

Amélie may be stubborn, but she isn't stupid.

Announcing that she wouldn't resign has gained points.

-The pollsters are wrong, and you too. -What?

Compared to the previous poll, the number of Yes voters hasn't changed.

The No is losing ground.

So it pushes the Yes up in the final results.

It isn't your strategy.

-It's this. -That tele-evangelist?

He's making the impact. The Prophet of Sortition.

Watch this video. It has 900,000 views.

Why isn't he saying anything?

He's receiving live questions.

That's a very interesting question. Why was Amélie Dorendeu elected?

I know why. Because I helped her.

You could say for her ideas. Not believable, so why?

I think she is the president because she is a woman.

People will call me sexist. But look at it as the system.

It is out of breath. So it gets sneaky.

For nothing to change, that has to change.

Men always have the power? Let's have a woman!

That's a Nazi seed. It's obvious.

...like the USA and Obama.

Mixed race makes a good impression. American democracy seems great.

But police violence against black people shows that nothing has changed.

Black, female, Arab, Jewish:

they are all diversions intended to mislead us.

The entire system needs to be overhauled.

This madman could save us from catastrophe.

-We need to push him to the max. -Sorry?

I'm drawing conclusions from your analysis.

Abstention pushes Yes up as the No loses ground.

The key is Amélie. We need Amélie.

Given your last meeting...

Abstention rate is high in the No camp.

It is the opposite with Yes.

The swing is not between Yes and No, but between No and abstention.

Christophe Mercier and the No have common ground:

anti-establishment.

So pushing Mercier

would force the No down in favor of abstention, and the Yes goes up.

Interesting. But how?

Put Mercier in the spotlight by organizing a debate with him.

Which No supporters would accept that?

Honestly, the best option would be Mercier and a Yes supporter.

The aim is to replace the Yes-No opposition

with a new division: Yes against abstention.

Hence a debate with Mercier against Yes, making Mercier victorious.

He becomes the new anti-establishment champion, the Yes's best enemy.

In the votes, abstention eats away at the No and the real winner...

Is Yes. We need to lose against Mercier to win.

Like a fixed game.

To lose intentionally, who better than she who best represents the system.

Is this a joke?

Who else then? Borde?

He is just disliked, not hated. The impact would be too weak.

-But with you... -I understand why Philippe sent you.

This meeting is over.

Madam President, this is my idea, not Philippe's.

He was sure you'd refuse.

But as I think it is the only way to win,

I decided to persuade you myself.

No.

You're here because he doesn't want to be ridiculed

by a Youtuber halfway between Joseph Goebbels and Bozo the Clown.

Rickwaert is always one move ahead.

The only thing he wants is to see me torn to shreds.

I get that his energy fascinates you.

Laugier, Vidal, myself, we've all fallen under his spell.

But sooner or later, he'll show his true colors.

A man who can't stop himself from destroying everything he built.

When that happens, come see me.

Your talent doesn't deserve to be wasted.

Well?

-I'll see you in Dunkirk tomorrow. -What did she say?

-A resounding no. -Shit.

She hates you.

You said it was your idea?

She knows you too well, Philippe.

Sonia79 suggests a voting slip

giving them the finger "to shove up their ass."

I like the honesty, but...

A ballot box labeled "Idiot trap." A classic.

Friends, we have a visitor.

Hold on. Just a few technical changes...

Exclusively, here is the Black Baron.

Good, I can see it.

-Hello. -Welcome, Mr. Rickwaert.

-Be careful, you're on dangerous ground. -Not for me.

We need to be able to talk.

I've been listening and I have a winning idea.

Your ballot paper exists. It's Yes.

Your suggestion doesn't seem popular.

If I understood your reasoning,

democracy can't be mistaken for elections.

That isn't so, Mr. Rickwaert.

Elections are an elitist confiscation of power.

It is anti-democratic. Electing is abdicating, renouncing sovereignty.

Fine. But in a referendum, nobody is elected. You vote Yes or No.

Who chooses the question? Not the people.

You're right. The Elysée does. It decides everything, all of the time.

To represent the people, No is worse than Yes.

It is more democratic to be represented by 577 MPs instead of just one.

That is what is at stake: a presidential or parliamentarian regime.

-The plague or cholera. -No, it is more representative.

LOSE YOUR TEMPER

More representative? Of the worst of us.

-The liars of the political block... -Calm down, I can insult too!

Mr. Rickwaert,

this isn't the Assembly. We listen to each other

and respect each other.

These aren't insults, but unfortunate facts.

MPs are the worst of us as they want power.

Plato taught us that those people mustn't be given power.

MPs are also liars as one must lie to be elected

and keep lying to stay elected.

Elections aren't democracy.

NOW

I was elected for 20 years. I know what democracy is.

Twenty years?

-Here we are... -What? Where are we?

Being elected doesn't make you an expert.

Elected officials are not superior.

They are not all-knowing. True democracy is selection by lot.

Sortition does not give power to those who want it.

-It makes lying pointless. -By playing with chance?

-You're left wing? -And proud of it.

How can you accept that since 1789, when elections were introduced,

power has always fallen to the richest?

Political and economic power are always in the same hands. Why?

Because the rich write their constitutions,

tailor-made to conserve power.

It is a fact. Established and verifiable.

SHUT UP AND END IT!

...for 200 years, the poor governed.

Those selected by lot have more chance

of coming from the 99% rather than the 1%.

Mr. Rickwaert, be consistent with yourself.

We won't be reaching an agreement today.

No, but I hope that we will some day.

Thank you for visiting, Mr. Rickwaert, goodbye.

-That was perfect. -Son of a bitch! Jerk!

"Oh, no, Mr. Rickwaert... Not at all, Mr. Rickwaert."

Shut up, little shit! Idiot. Loser!

Damn clown!

You'll come back from this.

But nobody can come back from losing a referendum 40-60.

Jackass.

No, he's a nice guy. The system is the problem, not the people.

Why don't we boycott the referendum? I'll summarize for people just joining.

We all agree,

whether Yes or No wins, the political block will retain power.

No.

They aren't worried about abstention, those irresponsible politicians.

On the contrary. They'll say: "The people don't care.

So, we'll keep deciding for them."

Hence a ballot to promote our message.

The only true democracy isn't elections, but selection by lot.

That is the aim of this online contest. Find the ballot with the biggest impact.

I'm counting on you!

-Gabrielle Delabre. -Voted.

Mrs. Merlaine Sylvie, Yvonne, Madeleine.

Voted.

DEMOCRACY IS SELECTION BY LOT

There are always people moaning that they've been struck off the list.

How many? Fourteen at 11 a.m.

Yes, for a referendum, that's a lot.

I don't care about office 14.

I want office eight. Get me eight.

Eleven is normal. It's right wing.

But I have doubts about four. No, I need eight.

-Surprise! -Hi, Dad!

I'll call you back.

-Why are you here? Are the polls bad? -It isn't even midday. It's fine.

I thought it'd be a hard day for you and it looks like I'm right.

Like all the old ladies, I voted as the Paris office opened.

Now, I'm here.

So you've introduced yourself?

So you've known each other for ages.

So you told her.

Do we have the national turnout stats?

In office 12, people found they'd been struck off the list.

Why don't you sit down, relax and eat something?

Ah, office eight.

Hold on.

Give me the voting numbers hour by hour. Go on.

I don't believe it, Aurore. If Michel wants to kill, he kills.

With 47 for the Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

At 45, we get third-degree burns.

We can survive, but...

But below that, we're dead and buried.

I'll call you back.

Yes, I'm listening.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

51 for No.

Shit. We came back from the brink!

Hello?

It's a bit clearer.

IFOP and Sofres estimate 51.5.

Harris too. Nobody gives Yes the win. It can only strengthen.

What's the status on the left?

-The exit polls aren't reliable. -How many?

Yes has the majority on the left.

I want to be alone.

Great. We'll be there, thanks. See you later.

You'll call for a left-wing union on TF1.

Vidal will have spoken on France 2.

Who did they bump off?

Nobody. I made the call at 1 p.m.

Once I got the midday stats, I knew the outcome.

Your fixed match with Mercier worked perfectly.

Abstentionists voted invalidly.

Wait. You knew at midday and you let me stew all afternoon?

What if I was wrong?

I love you. I don't want you to hate me.

"I love you too." That's what you're meant to say.

When someone says: "I love you." Convention implies: "I love you too."

I love you too.

I've planned a mediascope for TF1.

With the graphs? Isn't that expensive?

It's on your tab that you'll never pay.

I love you.

You won't say anything? What about convention?

You know me and conventions. I'm leftist.

Oh, shit!

-Yes. -Yes.

-Yes. -Yes.

-No. -No.

-Yes. -Yes.

No.

Spoiled.

-Selection by lot. -So it's spoiled.

Then mark "Selection by lot."

-Mr. President. -Selection by lot.

-This is spoiled. Put Code 13. -No, it's in the law.

Ballot paper with recognizable symbols.

In brackets: "Selection by lot." Be specific.

-Sir, I know what I'm doing. -Article L66 regarding spoiled votes:

"Each annexed ballot must state the annexation reason."

Please. Remain calm.

We want to count the sortition votes. They must be marked as the law states.

The cause for annexation is that it is spoiled.

-A void ballot. -Ridiculous.

We need to write it here.

What is this?

You can't do this!

Homeland counts 276 polling place incidents.

Insults, fights, threats...

The police evacuate calmly, but two ballot boxes were overturned.

-Is it always for the same reasons? -Yes.

Counting the selection by lot votes.

Mercier supporters have shown their hand.

They're trying to hijack the referendum.

The final count will be higher. These are partial reports.

Could it be invalidated?

Only Yes and No count. Spoiled ballots...

If the result isn't affected, jurisprudence is consistent.

Call the President of the Constitutional Council.

-Will I prepare a formal statement? -No.

If we interfere, it gets political. That's what Mercier wants.

Homeland takes care of it. Protect ballot boxes, attendance sheets

and avoid any injury.

-I want an update in ten. -Of course.

...in Limoges, Brest and Toulon, and smaller towns, these violent incidents

according to Homeland Security, amount to an estimated total

of 694...

You didn't invent Mercier, okay?

Really? So you asked him to count the...

What?

It's heating up in Dunkirk. Office one, city hall.

The latest count is at 961 incidents, images of surprising violence...

Will we talk about that all night?

The serious nature of tonight's events deserve to be treated accordingly.

Serious nature... There are 65,000 polling places in France,

and for ten minutes, we're bombarded with alarming images.

That is my job as a journalist.

Then why won't you mention the real story of the evening:

-No's victory? -Surprisingly,

I agree with Mr. Vidal.

I think you're stretching the truth.

I find it surprising that you haven't yet condemned the violence.

I won't detract from your defeat with this violence.

Do you know who did it? Who disrupted the vote? I don't.

We do know. Mercier's supporters.

Let me just highlight to Michel Vidal

that on the left, Yes has the majority. He holds the responsibility...

Kalhenberg never changes,

always standing to attention for the establishment.

-Take that back. -I don't like your tone!

Gentlemen, please, remain calm.

Please, Ms. Saint Cricq, for once, we're having fun!

Evening. Is everything okay?

-Thank you... -Thanks to you, they kept counting.

You should see a doctor.

First the slap, now this.

What's next? Where are we heading?

It all helps Chalon in the end.

I messed up with Mercier. I shouldn't have done it.

You did your best. It was brave.

You can't reason with that guy. It's tainted from the start.

His nonsense is disguised with a historical veneer.

What's worse is it works.

And then Michel...

He's not up to it. He was meant to pave the way for a union.

Instead, it's a scorched-earth policy.

As Yes has the majority on the left, he isn't strong enough to negotiate.

He'll invent anything to sabotage it all.

He'll never start the union. You were right, Philippe.

For a chance of beating Chalon, we need to confront Michel.

Thank you.

You deserve this applause. Everyone here.

Office presidents, tellers, assessors, citizens,

for guaranteeing the vote's integrity and protecting individuals. Thank you.

Tonight, you are heroes. Heroes of democracy.

Across France, others have done the same.

Thanks to you and them, democracy has won today.

Because violence lost.

But for how long?

After tonight, who can say it's just scare tactics?

I'm not pretending. I am scared.

We need to question ourselves and do some soul-searching.

All of us, collectively and individually.

I'll start.

I feel dirty.

Dirty for debating with the violence polluting the internet

that describes elected officials as irresponsible thieves.

It describes our democracy as a dictatorship,

that the facts are just an opinion, and that the truth is subjective.

We don't debate with violence. Never! We fight it!

If this is where we are...

it is primarily the fault of an uppity power,

cold and blind to inequality.

This power is right wing. With Dorendeu, it all moves backwards:

public services, equality, solidarity, justice.

The left is just as guilty.

Guilty of conforming to the logic of the Fifth Republic: find a leader.

Guilty for thinking about "who", rather than "what" or "how."

Guilty of making itself powerless by staying divided.

Dispersed, fragmented, broken up, dislocated, fractured.

Faced with the power, faced with the right,

all that remains is the worst threat of all:

the shattering of democracy by the far right.

Authoritarianism and violence, as we've seen tonight.

In the end, the left is like the lyrics of that Jeanne Moreau song.

We met, we separated, we found each other,

and separated again, or something like that...

I'm fine with that, but only if we find each other at the end.

So, Michel Vidal, I'm sure you're watching this.

Why not cut your losses?

Together, we can build a new Popular Front,

give ourselves the right to dream, to hope for the return of happier times.

Objectively, it initially depends on you.

We all need to talk. We can't join the presidential race in this state.

So, in the name of all the battles we share,

don't be stupid, Michel.

Don't be stupid, Michel!

Don't be stupid, Michel!

Don't be stupid, Michel!

Don't be stupid, Michel!

DON'T BE STUPID, MICHEL!

There's Vidal!

Don't be stupid, Michel!

DON'T BE STUPID, MICHEL

Did you hear that there were more "selection by lot" votes than Yes or No?

Pathetic. Mercier supporters are convinced

that's why they weren't counted.

It feeds their delusion. There's talk of a coup d'état.

But the quantity, Léo! The speed it spread at is fascinating.

When you add up the key words: #dice, #Mercier, #wearethemajority,

that's 25 tweets a minute. 1,500 tweets an hour.

Have we ever done that?

Believing they have the majority, imagine what that implies.

-Disconnected from reality? -Yes, but why?

The humiliation is immense.

Since it can't find an outlet, the only way out is to twist reality.

Reinvent reality to make it bearable.

Humiliation is the force behind political mobilization.

It is what pushed the French to oust the King,

the people of the Third World to revolt against colonization.

The humiliated are our own.

Everyone believes it helps Chalon, but it's a superficial analysis.

Deep down, they are with us. They just don't know it yet.

It just needs to be clearly explained to them.

We've been explaining for years that this is the era of oustism,

but when it comes knocking, we get fussy.

I won't be long.

-Hello, Mr. Mercier. -Hello. Come in.

Subtitle translation by Elaine Scott