影片回溯了西蒙娜·韦伊的一生，她的童年，她的政治斗争，她的悲惨遭遇。一位拥有非凡事业的女性的史诗般的私密写照，西蒙娜捍卫人道主义价值，震撼了她的时代。 西蒙娜是纳粹大屠杀的受害者和幸存者，在奥斯维辛集中营总共待了十三个月。年17岁的西蒙娜，看到了人可以非人到何种程度，直至步入老年，某种特殊的味道，一丝寒冷，哪怕一个幻象都能让她产生一种被她称为闪回的东西，勾起模糊而残酷的记忆。“在我们能读到的和人们能写出来的东西与那种绝对的恐怖相比，根本就是小巫见大巫。”（自述《比克瑙集中营的黎明》）。 战后，西蒙娜带着无法抹去的记忆创伤前行，她在巴黎政治学院学习法律和政治学，之后进入政界。1954年，她通过司法考试，成为了一名法官，并处理了阿尔及利亚的监狱问题；1974年，西蒙娜担任法国卫生部部长，主持通过了“韦伊法案”（《自愿终止妊娠法》），为法国女性争取到了自愿堕胎的权利。1979至1982年期间担任欧洲议会主席。2008年，西蒙娜当选法兰西学院院士。
Marie Antoinette is just a teenager when she leaves Austria to marry the Dauphin of France. At Versailles, under the complex rules of the French court, she suffers from not being able to live her life the way she wants, under pressure to continue the Bourbon line and secure the Franco-Austrian alliance.
The President of the French Republic, visiting Saint-Etienne in the Loire, in a striking plant dies, victim of a bomb attack. The political world is agitated: early presidential elections to be held within the next thirty-five days. There is no doubt that Philip Deleuvre, the prime minister, will run for the Elysee. But what few people know is that the leader of the government knows more things he claimed. This state causes lie back to business Kapita Simon, a former communications adviser (spin doctor) of the late president. Anxious to preserve the honor of his deceased friend and some form of political ethics, the man of the shadows has now set a goal: to find a candidate who will be able to beat Deleuvre.
By making the Elysée Palace the most coveted, and also one of the most mysterious residences in France, the founder of the Fifth Republic surely never imagined that his successors would discover the immense solitude of power there. De Gaulle, Pompidou, Giscard d’Estaing, Mitterrand, Chirac, Sarkozy, then Hollande: Each of them had the opportunity to experience the dizzying nature of supreme office in this 18th century palace with the appearance of a bunker. It is this intimate, solitary and silent history that is recounted here, through key events, previously unheard accounts, and rare archive footage. The film reveals above all how heads of state are capable of secretly walling themselves up in serenity, gravity, tragedy, or dignity, as they embrace their destiny along with that of France.
