Marseille, France // The reputation of Frenchmen as debonair charmers has suffered a double blow with the falls from grace of two household names from opposite ends of the social spectrum, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the actor Gérard Depardieu.
Feted for their sophistication and sense of romance, Gallic males now see their image tarnished by the sex charges against DSK, as he is commonly known, and reports that Depardieu relieved himself in front of fellow airline passengers.
The levels of alleged misconduct may be some distance apart, but both indicate a coarseness that has prompted commentators and visitors to online forums to start asking what each episode says about Frenchmen generally.
The British newspaper, the Daily Mail, which in common with other UK tabloids misses few chances to ruffle French feathers, combined the DSK and Depardieu affairs in a headline asking: "Must French men give in to their basic urges?" The paper supplied its own answer: "Oui, oui and oui again!"
The columnist Jan Moir wrote that by no stretch of the imagination could 2011 be described as a vintage year for the image of Frenchmen. She noted that the allegations against DSK in New York, which he denies, that he tried to rape a hotel chambermaid, had led to disclosures suggesting a man who spent much of his life "pouncing on any unsuspecting women unlucky enough to cross his path".
Depardieu and DSK are both 62, born within a few months of each other. But their beginnings could hardly have been more different.
The former International Monetary Fund chief was born in the affluent Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. The son of a tax lawyer, he studied at the prestigious Science-Po college and, though a leading socialist party politician, has always moved in chic, prosperous circles.
Depardieu was one of six children of a metal owner in Châteauroux, a city 250 kilometres south of Paris. His childhood was poor; the actor has said his mother told him she had not wanted more children and tried to abort him using knitting needles. He spent much of his childhood playing truant and committing a string of petty offences.
He has enjoyed massive success in cinema and is revered by many countrymen, and internationally, for roles in films ranging from Cyrano de Bergerac, for which he received an Oscar nomination, and the Green Card.
But he has never shaken off rough-and-ready traits. Despite his professional achievements, there have been occasional acts of boorishness, from drunkenly insulting a fellow-guest on a television talk show to claiming to have drunk five or six bottles of wine in a day.
The previous lapses from respectability resurfaced last week amid reports of the incident on a City Jet aircraft as it prepared for take off from Paris for Dublin. Told he could not use the toilet because the plane was already heading towards the runway, he allegedly urinated in view of other passengers.
The plane returned to its stand to be cleaned and Depardieu was refused permission to fly. He disputes the version given to French radio by another passenger and insists he tried to use a bottle, not in obvious view of others, but that it overflowed.
He also denies the was drunk and says his unexpectedly urgent call of nature was a result of a prostate condition.
The explanations have not stopped internet users posting comments at French forums condemning his conduct.
One contributor to the website of the daily newspaper Le Parisien said he was guilty of "unimaginable vulgarity". Another, signing herself Mimosette, considered him a badly brought-up and vulgar, though she was sceptical about the air hostess's refusal to allow use of the toilet "for security reasons" since, she argued, it would not matter in an emergency whether he was there or in his seat.
Even so, much opinion - certainly outside France - seems to be against Depardieu, just as DSK's behaviour in his New York hotel, whether or not he is guilty of sex crimes, has raised eyebrows about his morals.
Champions of French masculinity say the misdemeanours, or worse, of two famous men should not damn half a nation.
Plenty in France still make light of DSK's womanising. A journalist, defending the media's previous overwhelming silence about evidence of inappropriate approaches to females, said there "a huge difference between seducer and would-be rapist".
In an online poll run by the US lifestyle website Hubpages.com two years ago, 89 per cent of women who responded admitted to finding Frenchmen irresistible.
An accompanying article cited their fashion sense, appreciation of feminine qualities, passionate conversation and natural tendency to make eye-to-eye contact.
Depardieu was described as "by no means a handsome hero" but the writer said it was enough to watch him in his own language in the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac to understand "why so many women are mad about him".
The actor can take comfort that not all past admirers are now turning their back on him after his lack of control on a jet.
"I have gone off Gérard just a teeny-weeny bit," an Englishwoman living in the French Alps and calling herself Gigi, wrote at one website. "But I would definitely still swoon if I found myself on a plane with him. Loveable rogue, that's what he is."
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Sam Smith
Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi
When: Saturday November 24
Rating: 4/5
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Company%20Profile
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HOW TO WATCH
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Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
The six points:
1. Ministers should be in the field, instead of always at conferences
2. Foreign diplomacy must be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation
3. Emiratisation is a top priority that will have a renewed push behind it
4. The UAE's economy must continue to thrive and grow
5. Complaints from the public must be addressed, not avoided
6. Have hope for the future, what is yet to come is bigger and better than before
More on animal trafficking
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Honeymoonish
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
Price: Dh375,000
On sale: now
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
