Smooching their way through a five-course lunch on Saturday at an exclusive Paris restaurant, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni made it clear that they care nothing for what anyone thinks, including their gooseberry guest of honor, Tony Blair.
The former British prime minister was invited to the five-star Hotel Bristol after addressing a rally of Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party.
But all eyes were on the 40-year-old Bruni, who every now and again lifted her sunglasses to lean in and nuzzle the presidential cheek. Sarkozy reciprocated with kisses and cuddles, oblivious of any uncomfortable fidgeting from those around them.
Yesterday's social gathering, which included Justice Minister Rachida Dati and former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, was the latest display of a love that began just two months ago but is already prompting talk of weddings and babies.
It was last November when, alone beneath the chandeliers in the quiet elegance of his official residence, the newly divorced president was bored.
"He called me," says Jacques Seguela. "He said: `Invite me to dinner with your gang. I can't face any more evenings alone at the Elysee Palace.' Nicolas was very low."
Now he gives every appearance of being very high -- in Cabinet meetings the president has giggling fits -- after advertising executive Seguela introduced Sarkozy, 52, to Bruni. A nation that had never so much as seen one of its presidents wearing a T-shirt has been confronted with a whirlwind romance and the shock of seeing the photographers of even their more serious publications with lenses firmly trained on his ring finger and her tummy.
Second-ex-wife Cecilia has a role in this Gallic soap opera, too. The president who promised a "rupture" with the past has delivered an earth-shattering shift in France's relationship with power. But with six Paris Match covers to his credit since his election in May, Sarkozy is winning the nickname "President Bling-Bling," as suspicions grow he may be more style than substance.
On that November evening, around the dining table at Seguela's home, conversation turned to model-turned-singer Bruni's forthcoming tour.
"I wanted to get a group of my left-wing friends together, to give Nicolas a run for his money," Seguela said.
So he invited music store magnate Denis Oliviennes and the beautiful Italian-born singer with anti-capitalist opinions.
A few weeks earlier the pair had delivered a report to Sarkozy on music piracy.
After dinner, the president escorted Bruni home to her flat.
"But nothing happened that night," Seguela volunteered. "I know that because Carla phoned me at two in the morning. She said: `Your chum is strange. He asked for my number but he has not called me.'"
They had only parted company five minutes earlier.
Sarkozy soon proved that he is no procrastinator. On Dec. 15 -- two months to the day after he and Cecilia ended their 11-year marriage by signing divorce papers -- Sarkozy "outed" Bruni as his girlfriend with a stroll at Disneyland Paris.
Since then the specter of Cecilia -- now again involved with advertising mogul Richard Attias -- has never gone away. On Dec. 23, Sarkozy threw a 40th birthday party for Bruni and gave her a 20,000 euro (US$29,600) Dior heart-shaped ring, designed by Cecilia's best friend, Victoire de Castellane.
On Christmas Day the couple flew to Sharm el-Sheikh to meet up with the Blairs. Sarkozy gave Bruni a second ring while she gave him a 45,000 euro Patek Philippe watch. Last weekend they were photographed in Jordan -- at the spot where Cecilia and Attias, in November 2005, first showed off their love affair.
If the relationship turns out to be short-lived, French public opinion will no doubt turn on Bruni. Her respected transition from modeling to singing -- including a first album, Quelqu'un m'a dit, or Someone Told Me, which sold more than 2 million copies -- will be obliterated by her inglorious track record.
Bruni is better known for her colorful boyfriends -- Eric Clapton, Kevin Costner, former Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius and a few more. Jerry Hall had a stand-up row with her over an alleged fax she sent Mick Jagger saying "let's spend the night together." Novelist Justine Levy's 2004 bestseller Rien de Grave (Nothing Serious) tells the thinly disguised story of how Paula (Bruni) stole her boyfriend, Adrien. In the book, Paula is a "Terminator" who still "sees all her ex-lovers because she has slept with the entire planet, so she has to."
Levy is the daughter of philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and the former girlfriend of Raphael Enthoven, 29, son of philosopher Jean-Paul Enthoven. Bruni lived with Enthoven senior before having a son with Enthoven junior.
On Wednesday, the Italian daily La Repubblica pointed out snidely: "Cecilia may not have happy memories of her ex-husband but at least she knows to keep quiet. Carla on the other hand tends to write songs about her lovers, even to mock them."
But in the past week Cecilia has spectacularly broken her silence. On Thursday three books went on sale telling of the Sarkozys' marriage. On Friday, she failed in court to have one of them banned. Even though Le Point journalist Anna Bitton's book, Cecilia, is based on five years of authorized interviews, the former first lady believes it goes too far. The book paints Sarkozy as an unreconstructed adolescent who enjoys all-night karaoke parties, does not love his children and is a womanizer.
The French media are now divided between supporters of Nicolas and Cecilia. Glossing over the nine-point collapse in Sarkozy's confidence rating since June, Friday's Le Figaro produced a poll showing 60 percent of respondents welcomed Sarkozy's openness over Bruni. But a survey in Le Parisien, for which Cecilia is "a heroine," had only 39 percent feeling confident in Sarkozy.
The enduring effect of the Bruni-Sarkozy saga will be to wipe out the French media's silence over politicians' private lives. The love child of former president Francois Mitterrand was first seen at his funeral. Journalists kept quiet on former president Jacques Chirac's numerous affairs. But it has taken just a few weeks for the country's privacy laws to seem a distant memory.
The shift has come not from the media, but from an image-hungry Sarkozy, who is accused of using his private life to obscure political failures. The president's divorce was announced on Oct. 18, the day of a huge transport strike. Bruni's first public appearance on Sarkozy's arm came as the media were focusing on a state visit to Paris by Libya's Muammar Qaddafi.
At his New Year press conference last week, Sarkozy titillated reporters with the idea of a secret marriage to Bruni and fobbed off a question about his government's failure to boost consumer spending power. Sarkozy's record since his election includes giving himself a pay increase of between 172 and 206 percent -- depending on whose figures you use -- and cutting wealth tax to woo back rich exiles like crooner Johnny Hallyday (who still has not returned).
Sarkozy last week backed down on his assertion that the 35-hour week would be phased out this year. An action plan for France's riot-prone city suburbs has been downgraded to a ministerial mission. The president's much-heralded clampdown on benefit fraud has become bogged down in vague wording. Among his few successes has been to take a leading role in pushing through the mini-treaty for the EU Constitution.
According to satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine, even Prime Minister Francois Fillon is exasperated.
"He giggles at anything. He just wants to tell jokes or talk about bums. When we talk to the president, he does not always listen. He cancels meetings, which is not like him. Where will it end?" he said.
The advantage of it ending in nuptials would be to create a first lady. This would do away with protocol problems in India, where Sarkozy is expected for a state visit on Jan. 24. It is understood that Bruni would not accompany Sarkozy on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Her 170cm stature would be welcomed by France's fashion designers.
"There has to be a first lady in the Elysee. So why not a beautiful one?" Jean-Paul Gaultier asked.
Karl Lagerfeld said: "She has class, she is well educated and speaks several languages. I see only quality."
She is no Cinderella, either. Brought up at the family pile near Turin, Bruni's childhood was spent in a wonderland of crystal chandeliers and architectural elegance. Not that different from the Elysee.
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