France: a slap in the face for Macron?
A brief scene that has caused a big stir: in a video that quickly went viral, French President Emmanuel Macron can be seen being pushed in the face by his wife Brigitte as he prepares to get off a plane that has just landed in Vietnam for an official visit. While some commentators wonder whether it was a slap in the face, Macron has said that he and his wife were just joking around.
Feelings still exist
Huffington Post Greece is of two minds:
“What now? How can Macron stand up to the powerful? What can he say to leaders and dictators? ... How can you display authority when you've been publicly slapped, and by your own wife to boot? ... Or was it just something very human, a crack, a private moment that became public? A moment of weakness? A French-style love that refuses to die quietly? Whatever it was, there was something real in it, and in a cynical, troubled world it seemed to show that feelings still exist - and at least that is something.”
President's wife a popular target
Le Temps explains why the images from Vietnam are causing such a stir:
“The fact is that Brigitte Macron has become a favourite target in French conspiracy theory circles - and perhaps far beyond. The age difference between her and the president, the fact that she was his teacher, and a large dose of sexism have given rise to the most far-fetched theories. She is said to be the one who calls the shots, with the infamous 'she's the one who wears the trousers' being the softest version of these ravings, which extend to the most extreme theories about her sexuality. Such fantasies have prompted Emmanuel Macron to respond in the media on several occasions.”
A private matter
The scene between the couple is nobody else's concern, L'Humanité insists:
“This affair, which is private and as such is none of our business, has unfortunately become so public that the Elysée Palace, which initially denied it, has now talked of a private tiff between the two. But how should we interpret this rather morbid interest? Isn't there perhaps the perverse idea that if he let himself be slapped, he deserved it, and that it couldn't be just a harmless incident in their relationship? If it were otherwise, would Brigitte Macron have made this astonishing gesture at the very moment when the plane door was about to open for a state visit? But we won't ask these questions. Because it's none of our business.”