The far-right leader is using her gender to give the National Front a veneer of respectability and modernity.

The far-right leader is using her gender to give the National Front a veneer of respectability and modernity.

Intimacy meets politics at this year’s film festival at Cannes.
![Palm fronds frame a giant canvas of the official poster of the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France [REUTERS]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/a203d40f19a94ad8b3cc2ffd0d700c15_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Most of France supports the limitations on their liberties in the fight against terrorism – for now.
![Policemen walk past spray painted on the sidewalk reading: "Je suis Ahmed," in the red, white and blue of the French flag near a plaque commemorating late police officer Ahmed Merabet in Paris [AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/73fa0ff60d1d4825bb591931fddfeee2_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
National Front’s cunning rhetoric is working if French voters now trust Marine Le Pen to keep them safe from terror.
![French National Front political party leader and candidate Marine Le Pen is surrounded by media [REUTERS]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/77d09718fec6474383d685e40aac60d4_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Will France now treat Frenchmen ready to blow themselves up as traitors, or continue seeing them as lost children?
![A sign reads ''Not even afraid'', draped on the statue on Place de la Republique in Paris, France [EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/fbe18f2d12624132881d4c7898926365_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
This year’s Cannes showed us a world where redemption has become an old forgotten concept.
![French actors Isabelle Huppert and Gerard Depardieu in a scene from ''Chronic'' [EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/84636c89be674baab49bb1d729efcae1_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Cannes has always been a place where the greatest art meets the biggest market.
![Jury member actor Jake Gyllenhaal arrives at Cannes [REUTERS]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/c192afcdf3214d9d8687aa03d905a10d_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
You may be able to convince Londoners that a flashy new tower in the city is a good thing – but not
![Paris is not as conservative a city as one might think, writes Poirier [Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014111864951556734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
France’s beloved balladeer, after 70 years of exporting nostalgia and Gallic charm, now advocates fo
![The French chanteur is a phenomenon in many more ways than one, writes Poirier [AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/20149241314449734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
In seeking to settle accounts with her ex-lover, has Valerie Trierweiler also damaged French democra
![Valerie Trierweiler's book entitled 'Merci pour ce Moment' (Thanks for the Moment) highlights her life with French President Francois Hollande [EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/2014998599151734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)