“My name is Frédéric Mitterrand, I am 35 years old and I have been traveling for 12 years in a huge and mysterious continent called cinema”. It was with these words that he made his debut on March 6, 1982, on TF1 by presenting the first broadcast of Étoiles et toiles. A few years later, he admitted to Thierry Ardisson that his presence on the small screen saved him from long sessions on a psychoanalyst’s couch. Madelen invites you to discover or rediscover this sequence and the confidences born from a journey that he originally did not imagine would last more than a few months. The adventure begins one morning, when Frédéric Mitterrand receives a phone call from Alain de Sedouy, a journalist turned producer. He saw and liked her film Letter of Love from Somalia, and offered to host a new event on TF1, devoted to cinema, entitled Étoiles et Toiles. It couldn’t be better. His interlocutor then faces a mountain of problems: the three arthouse cinemas, under the Olympic brand, which he manages, are on the verge of a financial abyss, and the receipts for Letter of Love from Somalia have not fixed anything, quite the contrary. He gives the green light without imagining that he will experience another particularly difficult moment. His baptism of fire is his first live broadcast, although he has never undertaken this exercise. His hesitations, quite understandable, earned him a murderous article from a critic who nicknamed him “Mitterrand bafouillis”. The public, on the other hand, adheres to his words and especially to a voice whose “Good evening” will delight imitators.
A few numbers were enough for him to adapt the formula to a style that he managed to impose on his producers. He begins by changing the credits by borrowing it from one of his favorite films, Contempt, by Jean-Luc Godard. Little by little, the presenter transforms into a storyteller. The traditional promotion of films is replaced by the stories of legendary or forgotten stars, illustrated by black and white images. Some do not fail to warn him. In the age of color and at the dawn of a new trend called youthism, he is taking a huge risk. He accepts it and wins his bet. Despite their broadcast at a late hour, programs devoted in particular to Marylin Monroe and Bette Davis reach a very wide audience, well beyond die-hard movie buffs.
Also read: The different worlds of Frédéric Mitterrand brought together for a final tribute to the man of a thousand lives
Having thus found a particular place in the audiovisual landscape, he became, in his own words, the “conductor” of several programs which will follow one another on the air, over the seasons: Ciné-Fêtes, Acteur Studio, – adapted from the United States -, Destins, Étoile Palace, Les amants du siècle, and Caravane de nuit. This list also includes commentaries on royal ceremonies, as well as Midnight Permission, It’s Your Life, where he made the dreams of personalities come true, and On the Side of Fred’s, rewarded with a 7 d’Or. He creates a scandal by putting it on the ground live, after having received it. This is where the public service is, he declares in an icy tone, before leaving the set. He is then at odds with management, but this will be resolved the next day, after he has presented his apologies. A warming that can be described as climatic.