1958: Those Who Said No

The story

On October 4, 2018, France celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Fifth Republic. It is a republic born in the throes of the Algerian War and one which—from the day it was founded by General de Gaulle until the presidency of a very Jupiterian Emmanuel Macron—has been assailed as a “Republican monarchy” by partisans of a more assertive parliamentarian state. By revisiting the struggle of those who dared oppose the new regime — only to suffer a crushing defeat on September 28, 1958, when they were barely able to garner 20% of the vote against the constitutional text — this film shines a powerful new light on the origins of the Fifth Republic and its consequences for the next 60 years. It is a constitutional debate that planted the seeds for a complete upheaval of the French political landscape, on the left in particular, and set the country in motion toward what would be called the Union of the Left.

Cast

P Philippe SaadaNarrator (voice) P Pierre PflimlinSelf (archive footage) R Raoul SalanSelf (archive footage) J Jacques MassuSelf (archive footage) P Pierre JoxeSelf J Jean-François SirinelliSelf C Charles de GaulleSelf (archive footage) P Pierre Mendès FranceSelf (archive footage) C Charles HernuSelf (archive footage) É Édouard DaladierSelf (archive footage) A Anicet Le PorsSelf F François MitterrandSelf (archive footage)

See more cast

M Michel DebréSelf (archive footage) A Antoine PinaySelf (archive footage) G Guy MolletSelf (archive footage) A André MalrauxSelf (archive footage) J Jean-Louis DebréSelf F Félix Houphouët-BoignySelf (archive footage) C Claude BourdetSelf (archive footage) R René CotySelf (archive footage) F FernandelSelf (archive footage) Y Yves MontandSelf (archive footage) J Jacques DuclosSelf (archive footage) P Paul ReynaudSelf (archive footage) W Waldeck RochetSelf (archive footage)