1958: THOSE WHO SAID NO

September 28th, 1958. In the referendum on the Constitution proposed by General de Gaulle, opponents are swept aside. The “yes” vote wins with 80% of the vote. The defenders of the “no” vote denounce the conditions of the General’s return in the wake of the generals of Algiers and criticise the drift of institutions towards personal power. But their voices go unheard. Or perhaps they were too ahead of their time. But the most illustrious of these “no” advocates, François Mitterrand and Pierre Mendès-France, made their mark: with the passage of time, the general’s exercise of power would prove them right.

The Fifth Republic is now 60 years old. The executive branch has long since become a one-man show, and, like a sea serpent, calls for a Sixth Republic, which would restore the power of parliament, constantly reappear on the political scene, regularly reviving 1958’s “no” arguments.

This film looks back at this historic moment when, faced with the instability of the institutions of the Fourth Republic, the French chose to abandon themselves to the delights of republican monarchy.

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