Why did Sarkozy let a playwright follow him around for nine months? Sarkozy told her that he was flattered by her attention. France’s left-leaning “intellos” and artists regarded Sarkozy as a philistine: having such a literary luminary as Reza in his entourage was considered an advantage. He told her: “Even if you demolish me, you will make me greater.”

What was her verdict? She portrays a cocky little figure with a foul mouth, a filthy temper and a slight limp who is obsessed with power. He is clever, seductive, vain, self-obsessed and insecure. He is also addicted to chocolate, a struggle highlighted last week by a photograph of him canoeing in swimming trunks with his 10-year-old son Louis: a fawning Paris Match magazine airbrushed out the presidential “love handles”.

What effect will the book have on him? Reza describes a “childlike way” in Sarkozy’s craving to win approval and a fear of being left alone. This could undermine his self-created tough image. Is there an upside to the book? It is, on balance, quite sympathetic and some of the foibles she describes seem almost endearing. Instead of focusing on a headline about Iran as he reads a newspaper one day, his eye is caught by an advertisement. “It is beautiful, this Rolex,” he proclaims. That can only help him to look human.

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