Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's "compassion" for François Hollande

France's former first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was on US telly earlier this week.

No, it wasn't courtesy of her fleeting role in Woody Allen's 2011 movie "Midnight in Paris" - although that might well have been showing on one of the country's channels.

Rather the 45-year-old was a guest on NBC's "Today" show.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (screenshot from interview on NBC's "Today" show)

She was there to promote her latest album "Little French songs" in a brief but nonetheless predictable interview with the two hosts of the fourth hour segment of the show, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.


To say that Gifford and Kotb gushed their way through the cosy "chat" would be something of an exaggeration, but there again that part of the programme is inevitably lighter fodder for the viewers.

Nice and fluffy morning coffee time stuff.

And while Bruni-Sarkozy happily played along without giving away any state secrets - or at least not saying anything she hasn't already said - right at the end of the interview, she made what was perhaps, a perhaps surprising admission.

Reacting to Gifford's statement posed almost as a question that the current French president "François Hou..Houllande wasn't very popular at the moment" and that perhaps her husband (Hollande's predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, just in case you've been on planet Zog for a while) "might have to make a return to politics", Bruni-Sarkozy kept her cool without falling into the trap and at the same time almost seemed come to Hollande's defence...well sort of.

"Nothing is easy in politics right now because economies are so difficult all over the world. So it's a hard duty job," she said.

"I always feel very compassionate to everyone who does it because it's a hard job," added Bruni-Sarkozy.

Ah well.

At least someone out there recognises what a sterling job Hollande is doing under the most arduous of circumstances.

Er...that is what she was saying, wasn't it?

Anyway. Here's the interview in all its full four-minute glory.

Enjoy.

Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" - the trailer

US film director Woody Allen's latest movie "Midnight in Paris" will open the Cannes film festival on May 11.

And from the trailer it looks as though it'll be a classic Allen.

It's apparently a romantic comedy which follows a young American couple, engaged to be married, on holiday in Paris with their families.

A Paris which, as the trailer says, "in the morning is beautiful, in the afternoon charming, in the evening enchanting but after midnight is magic."

Without giving too much away the plot reportedly sees the young man (played by Owen Wilson) walk the streets of Paris by night alone, during which he falls under the spell of the city and the couple is "forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better".

Ah! Very Allen with blissfully sumptuous shots of the city of lights in all its glory; clichéd perhaps but inevitable - a delight for any fan of the director's previous 40 films.

Yes it might be very much in the mould of the 75-year-old's other romantic comedies and slightly hackneyed in the way it presents the French capital, but what the heck.

It's Allen and fans probably won't be disappointed and there's that cast of course.

It combines Hollywood A-listers with a splash of European: a mix of Allen favourites, Oscar winners and a couple of bright young(ish) things

Apart from Owen - and in alphabetic order - there's (among others) Kathy Bates, Adrian Brody, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen...and oh yes...a certain Carla Bruni (the "Sarkozy" part of her surname seems to have been dropped for some reason).

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" (screenshot from trailer)

Woo hoo. It has finally happened.

After modelling, singing (ongoing), and first-ladying, Bruni-Sarkozy now hits the big screen, just as Allen promised she would back in June 2009

Well if the truth be told it'll actually be Bruni-Sarkozy's second film appearance .

Her debut came back in Robert Altman's 1994 fashion satire "Pret-a-Porter". But perhaps that doesn't count as she played herself and that, only briefly.

This time though she speaks. And that, in spite of rumours (hotly denied by Allen) that it required rather a lot of takes (30 or more) for the Finely Chiselled One to get her lines right.

Bruni-Sarkozy has also survived the cutting room floor and although her performance might be overshadowed by the real stars, who cares?

There she is, larger than life and many times more beautiful, adding yet another string to her multi-talented bow of talents.

All right, so it might be a little exaggerated to judge her performance from the virtual nano-second trailer appearance (blink and you might miss it) but the French and others will get the chance to see for themselves on May 11.

That's when it'll be shown as the opening film at this year's annual bash in Cannes whose director, Thierry Frémaux, has described Allen's latest work as, "A wonderful love letter to Paris."

One thing's for sure, if the whole cast pitches up for the showing, the red carpet promises to come in for some serious tread.

The French won't have to wait too long to flood to the cinema to see their first lady as the film will open in cinemas across the country on the same day.

For those though that cannot wait, here's the trailer.

Enjoy.