What do you see in this picture? A man who is desperate, dangerous, skillful, daring, pathetic or depressed? A president who is suicidal, a pyromaniac, a kamikaze, a shrewd strategist, a maneuverer, a cohabitationist or someone about to resign? All of that at once? Or none of the above? Since the electoral earthquake of June 9 and the announcement of the dissolution, people, in this ocean of uncertainty, are clinging to convictions as intimate as they are perfectly inaudible to their neighbor... At this stage, in reality, only one thing is not up for discussion: Macron, at the hour of tragedy, was in black.
Was it to be seen as a visual symbol and conditioning? Or simply, pragmatically, a recourse to the first suit that came along, the one that D-Day anniversary ceremonies had imposed in the preceding days? In any case, the wearing of black in fateful circumstances is a very French and very historical story. It was Queen Anne of Brittany who first broke with the tradition of wearing white to a funeral and imposed black, in 1495, for the death of her son.
To go with this suit, Macron opted for a black tie in silk grenadine, a textured material invented in the Granada region of Spain in the Middle Ages and now made almost exclusively around Como, Italy, by expert craftsmen. Suffice to say, if this tie is to act as a noose around his neck then its choice is particularly sophisticated. And its knot, a simple half-Windsor, is incidentally far too loose.
Macron also wore two rings as accessories, signifying alliance. Their history is well known. Left hand, the ring that sealed the union of the president and his wife in 2007. Right hand, the gift offered by Brigitte to her former pupil in 2002, at the time of his departure to Nigeria as a student at ENA. To those who wonder whether Macron is a president with his hands tied, we say yes.
Let us finally take note of the finesse and brilliance of the wrought-iron railing on the Elysian terrace behind the president. Specialists in wrought iron will see in the heavy piece in question both the classicism of the 17th century and the rococo style of the 18th. On the one hand, straight lines and symmetrical effects stand out. On the other, there are gold-plated shells and acanthus leaves. A cohabition, like that that could happen between the Parliament and the presidency after July 7? Yes, but we're on the verge of metaphor overdose.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.