In Bormes-les-Mimosas, Michel Sardou, with sixty years of songs to his name, reappears on TF1 on November 2, 2025, in the portrait of "Sept à Huit." Two books, a compilation, and a documentary expected in early November frame this confession in the present. The artist oscillates between chosen retirement and sharp stances, while recounting his stage persona. Furthermore, he comments on current events and orchestrates a final clarification.
In Bormes, the autumn light and a televised portrait
The sea is near, the air smells of pine and salt. In Bormes-les-Mimosas, where Michel Sardou has retired, a camera has been set up. The singer, 78 years old in 2025, confides in the "Portrait" of "Sept à Huit" on TF1, broadcast on November 2, 2025. The setting says it all: a man of the stage chooses the soothing twilight of the Var to tell his story. Indeed, he talks about a career that began in the era of super 45s, which he celebrates differently today. Thus, instead of another tour, he offers a series of stories, records, and pages.
The schedule of a meticulously timed celebration
The mechanism is simple and effective. A compilation crafted like a totem "60 years, 60 singles" recalls the backbone of successes. Two books recount the journey, mixing memoirs and retrospective views. A documentary in theaters, on November 6 and 9, 2025, extends the filmed confession: a face-to-face where the voice, free from the spotlight, attempts to organize a personal legend. This campaign condensed at the beginning of November resembles a discreet bow. There is no longer the urgency of the zeniths, only the long time of a story being set up. Titles and dates subject to change according to publishers and distributors.
Audrey Crespo-Mara, listening and silences
In the room, Audrey Crespo-Mara poses her questions with a gentleness that does not exclude precision. She knows how to let silences linger where one can almost hear a breath. The televised portrait, barely twelve minutes, concentrates the angles: the man, his flamboyance, his regrets, his anger. The singer distinguishes what he calls a "stage persona" and what he holds as his opinions. The nuance is decisive, as it runs through his entire discography. Indeed, popular anthems sit alongside songs that shock.
Women, feminism, words that hurt
He has been known more than once as brusque, provocative, stubborn. On television, he assumes the excesses uttered on stage, claiming the right to excess of the performer behind the microphone. On feminists, his scathing remarks have sparked controversies, he maintains the logic, if not the letter. Feminist collectives and activists often denounced lyrics deemed misogynistic. Moreover, these criticisms are widely relayed by the press. They are recalled here to situate the debate. The man tells of a mask, that of a character who exaggerates. The question remains calmly posed by the interviewer: what remains when the set is folded away? Sardou responds indirectly, evoking a generation, a profession, an irony he would like to be read as a stage code, without excluding the wounds caused.
A phone call, a discomfort: Sarkozy behind bars
The portrait does not avoid current events. The conviction and incarceration of Nicolas Sarkozy form a tense backdrop. The singer expresses his personal support, almost of friendship, and confides a discomfort: "We’re in trouble if we start putting presidents in prison". The blunt statement tells more of a relationship to the symbol than a technical commentary on a legal case. The text recalls the ongoing appeal and the presumption of innocence attached to the unjudged aspects. In this profession of loyalty, one hears the old fraternity of a world. In this world, presidents call singers, and vice versa.
Withdrawal, the house, an art of solitude
The singer says he is happy, finally alone. In Bormes, he has built a discreet life, almost monastic. Friends visit rarely, the sea is there, the light shifts. He explains he no longer desires grand evenings. Indeed, he prefers a quiet lunch, a book, a nap. One thinks of farewells, of that tour in 2023-2024 from which he returned exhausted, acknowledging the physical toll of marathons. He speaks of the stage as a former fever. It has not disappeared, it only compels him to find other paces.
The method of a meticulously planned promo
Only three interviews, sparingly distributed. A television exclusive that plants the flag. A tight schedule is planned: television on November 2, 2025. Then, releases in bookstores and theaters in quick succession. Finally, record on platforms and in record stores. Nothing overwhelming, but everything in its place. The strategy is clear: scarcity of words, power of quotes, halo effect on the whole. Sardou no longer needs to conquer, he just needs to be there, precise and sharp.
The legacy, fragile and tenacious
In the interview, the artist does not seek to sanctify his repertoire. He acknowledges the sharp edges, he maintains the right to have touched on controversial subjects. One hears the France that adores him, but also the France that is annoyed. Moreover, France knows by heart the refrains that have become end-of-evening rituals. His popularity, made of contradictions, withstands the waves. "Les Lacs du Connemara" will survive the controversies like a fireplace: too powerful, too simple in its fervor to be just a slogan. The artist, meanwhile, looks at it from afar, almost amused, a little weary.
Invoked figures, recomposed France
Around him, the names draw a landscape. Marine Le Pen, Sandrine Rousseau, Nicolas Sarkozy: three ways of embodying the fault lines of a country searching for itself. Sardou does not choose a side, he asserts a mood, a phrase, an irony. His words, often blunt, recall the tradition of French song that was long a theater of ideas. One can be offended, or one can recognize oneself in it. However, the truth is that the voice has shaped our collective imagination for six decades.
A popular memory, between quarrels and loyalties
Sardou’s career embraces collective moments: weddings, banquets, stadiums, school parties. It also embraces anger: debates on the death penalty, on the Empire, on America. The singer does not resign from this collective history. He now puts distance into it. He seems calmer, more precise in his choice of words, without dulling the grain of his public voice. The televised portrait captures him in this transformation, at the moment when the man writes the postscript of his own legend.
At the time of assessments, a promise of sobriety
Nothing spectacular, nothing industrial in this anniversary season. Rather a clear line: a few speeches, a film, a summa record, pages. The whole is enough to reaffirm a rank: that of a major artist of French song, whose cultural imprint remains undeniable. The controversies will return, as will other praises. Sardou, for his part, seems no longer to make it a life’s work. He has a view of the sea and of France. On the evenings of November 2025, spectators will sit in the dark to listen to him tell his story.