A new book has shed light on the viral clip of French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte smacking him, revealing the incident was reportedly triggered by her discovery of messages exchanged between Macron and Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who has an interesting Indian connection.
Key Points
- A new book Un Couple (Presque) Parfait, by Florian Tardif, suggests French President Emmanuel Macron’s ‘friendship’ with Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani caused an outburst from his wife Brigitte.
- Brigitte Macron reportedly discovered messages between her husband and Farahani, including one where Farahani called Macron ‘very attractive’ and he reciprocated, leading to the incident.
- Golshifteh Farahani was the leading lady in Irrfan Khan’s last film, The Song Of Scorpions, and initiated her casting after meeting the director Anup Singh at a film festival.
Chances are, you have watched the viral clip of French President Emmanuel Macron getting smacked by his wife Brigitte just as the doors to his aircraft opened. It immediately got everyone curious about what her motive might have been.
It appears that the reason is Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who, interestingly, has an Indian connection.
The Revelation in ‘An Almost Perfect Couple’
A new book Un Couple (Presque) Parfait aka An Almost Perfect Couple, written by French journalist Florian Tardif suggests that Macron’s ‘friendship’ with the actress did not go down well with his wife.
The Telegraph newspaper in the UK reports that several messages were reportedly been exchanged between Macron and Farahani, with Latif commenting that they ‘went quite far’.
In one message, Farahani reportedly told Macron, ‘I find you very attractive.’
Macron reciprocated with ‘I find you very pretty.’
In the report, Latif revealed that Brigitte accidentally came across these messages shortly before the plane landed, and that led to the famous slap.
Golshifteh Farahani’s Indian Connection
So what’s the Indian connection?
Farahani was Irrfan’s leading lady in his last film, The Song Of Scorpions, directed by Anup Singh. The festival film was critically acclaimed and released in India in 2023, a day before Irrfan’s third death anniversary.
Interestingly, it was Farahani, who initiated her casting in the film.
Director Anup Singh narrates how it happened: ‘Irrfan and I were at some international film festival where Qissa was being screened. Through the crowd, we saw this really gorgeous woman walking towards us. And she came to us and said: ‘Coffee?’
‘Of course, you can’t say no to Golshifteh Farahani! She took us for coffee, and that is how we met her.
‘There was one thing that really struck me about Golshifteh. She lives in exile from Iran. She cannot go back to Iran. When she spoke about that exile, she strangely never spoke about it bitterly. She spoke about how the exile had actually opened her to the possibilities in herself. I think that is what makes this incredible actress what she is.’
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
