Christine Lagarde: An American (Style) in Paris.(The Last Word)(Interview)

Byline: Tracy McNicoll

The 35-hour week was a derogatory way to look at work, as if work was something that had to be cut from the system.

Christine Lagarde is a French powerhouse with an American sensibility. A former head of the global law firm Baker & McKenzie in Chicago, she is now the Finance minister of France -- the first woman to hold that post in any G7 country. Helping President Nicolas Sarkozy dial back the 35-hour workweek and other perks of the cushy French labor market has put her on the front line just as unions shut down transport nationwide on Oct. 18. NEWSWEEK's Tracy McNicoll caught up with Lagarde in suburban Paris, where she talked of

French pessimism, and why reform can succeed. Excerpts:

MCNICOLL: A recent government study shows the French are a lot more pessimistic than the average European, even though they have less reason to be. Why?

LAGARDE: The situation in France is, I would say, jolly good -- in sharp contrast with the impression some French people have. This survey indicates the French population is skeptical, vaguely cynical about institutions, the Parliament, the media, representatives in general, and they have this distrust for institutions. We're really working as hard as we can to change that and to include as many people as possible. One of the huge values of our president is that he indicated right from the start of his campaign what he wanted to propose, and to have been elected with a solid majority, with more than 84 percent [voter turnout].

It's tough to reform a country where the perception of reality is skewed. Have previous governments played into those fears?