All the president's melodrama, on film

PARIS - As if the life of Nicolas Sarkozy has not produced enough melodrama - especially with rumors now that his third wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, may be pregnant - French moviemakers have produced a semifictional drama, called "La Conqu��te," or "The Conquest," that purports to depict his rise to power.

"The story of a man who wins power and loses his wife" is the tag line, a neat summary of the relentless Mr. Sarkozy's 2007 campaign to succeed Jacques Chirac even as his second wife, C��cilia, falls in love with another man but returns to pretend all is normal until the final vote is cast - and then disappears.

The models for the film, said the producer, Eric Altmayer, were Anglo-Saxon - "The Candidate," "Bob Roberts," "All the President's Men," "Primary Colors" and, of course, "The Queen."