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Professional lip readers were working overtime after a video circulated showing French President Emmanuel Macron‘s wife, Brigitte Macron, shoving her husband’s face with her fingers just before they exited a plane at an airport in Vietnam.

Cameras were rolling at the time and captured the surprising moment. When Emmanuel realized that, he looked stunned but forced a smile and waved to the crowd through the plane’s open door.

The Express‘s lip-reading expert analyzed the footage and observed what the couple said to one another as cameras stayed on them while they headed down the steps to the tarmac.

According to the expert, Emmanuel appears to say “Essayons, s’il te plaît,” which translates in English to “Let’s try, please?”

But Brigitte replies: “Non (no).”

“His closing expression and the phrase lipread as ‘Je vois,’ translated in English to ‘I see.'” The lip reader concluded: “A rare unguarded exchange that hints at deeper tensions between the couple. One to watch, especially with a packed diplomatic schedule ahead.”

In response to the clip shared all over the internet, the French leader tried to downplay what happened, calling it a “joke” with his spouse that’s being “overblown,” saying, “We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife.” The Élysée Palace added: “It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around.” 

However, News Corp writer Patrick Carlyon is one of the many people who didn’t see it that way.

He told Sky News Australia: “That was not ‘horsing around’ and if you keep playing the footage, you see he reaches for her hand as they walk off down the plane and she refuses to take it. That is not horsing around … that is not fun, no.”

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