At the Élysée, after having denied the veracity of the images, we are now talking about a simple “bickering”, of “a moment of” decompression “between spouses, without more comments. But the slap that Emmanuel Macron received from his wife Brigitte made Internet users react.
Did Brigitte Macron really slap her husband?
As the door of the presidential plane has just opened, you can see Emmanuel Macron standing. And suddenly, one (or perhaps two) hand falls on the president’s face, which seems surprised. For a few seconds, his gaze is on the outside where he notices the cameras of journalists who follow this official trip. He then signals them, as if to hide his embarrassment.
A few seconds later, the presidential couple descends from the plane. At the top of the steps, the president seems to tender his wife his wife, who does not take him.
Impossible to know behind the scenes of this gesture
Whatever the real context, this gesture raises a real question on the signals that we send to a couple, especially in public. Because beyond the anecdote, this type of physical behavior, as brief as it is, deserves to dwell on it. And our expert is formal: it is never trivial.
“”Obviously, it is difficult to know what really played between Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron at this precise moment “ first note the psychologist. “”Was it a spontaneous reaction, a moment of tension or a misinterpreted complicity? Never mind. Because what challenges here is not so much the presidential couple as the symbolic significance of this gesture“She summarizes.
What does this slap mean, coming from a presidential couple?
This is why this type of action deserves to be analyzed. “”When a spouse raises his hand on the other, even for laughter, it is not trivial“Insists the clinical psychologist Amélie Boukhobza again. Even in short, this gesture opens a breach.”This allows. It trivialized“. The body speaks where the words are missing. It says an annoyance, a tension, a dynamic buried. And even if the gesture seems light, it sends a message which, in any relationship, can have a lasting impact.
“”We should never cross this limit. This gesture is condemnable. It’s no“, insists the specialist. Because touching the other in a moment of exasperation, even without violent intention, amounts to establishing a form of ambiguity in the relationship. And in the gaze of others.
A different perception depending on the genre?
The video also raises a delicate question: what if the roles had been reversed? If it was Emmanuel Macron who had raised his hand on his wife, even in the tone of the joke, would the collective reaction been the same? Would the controversy have taken another magnitude?
For Amélie Boukhobza, the observation is clear. “”Violence, one way or the other, should be just as prohibited“. This differentiated treatment according to gender contributes to strengthening certain social biases: what shocks in one sense sometimes seems to be excused in the other. However, the message remains the same. It is a physical overflow, in a relationship where words should always take precedence.
This is not a matter of domestic violence here. No signal is going in this direction. But this type of gesture, in public as in private, has resonances that cannot be ignored. The gestures are never neutral, especially when they take place under the eyes.
When the body speaks instead of words
Can we see an emotional valve? A calculated staging? A simple clumsiness? Everyone will get their idea. But for relationship professionals, this kind of physical manifestation always questions. Because gestures, in a couple, build a narration. And in this shared story, each action counts.
“”The body sometimes betrays a deeper dynamic“Recalls the psychologist. A lively movement, a sudden, even stealthy contact, can reveal what language was silent. And once this threshold has been crossed, even involuntarily, it becomes more difficult to erase the traces.