I saw a film over the weekend and people were joking about the death of French President Félix Faure. Why?

Question

Félix Faure was Président of France in the 19th Century.

Answer 1

He was sixth president of the French Third Republic, whose presidency (Jan. 15, 1895 to Feb. 16, 1899) was marked by diplomatic conflicts with England, rapprochement with Russia, and the continuing problem of the Dreyfus Affair.
After his death, some alleged extracts from his private journals, dealing with French policy, were published in the Paris press.

He is rumoured to have died while receiving oral sex from Marguerite Steinheil. This incident was the theme of numerous jokes and rumours:

The priest who came for Félix Faure's when he died allegedly asked a policeman whether the president still "had his consciousness", to which the policeman replied "no, she left through the back door" (this in French, connaissance means both "consciousness" and "acquaintance").
An unconfirmed quotation by Georges Clémenceau has him saying, alluding to Faure's taste for decorum: "He wanted to be Caesar, alas he became merely Pompey" (Il voulait être César, hélas, il ne fut que Pompée: in French, Pompée (Pompey) sounds like pompé (blown)).
Marguerite Steinheil came to be known as Pompe Funèbre (pun of "funeral industry" and "deadly sucker").

Answer 2

Because he is rumoured to have died in bed with a prostitute. The French have plenty of jokes about him.

Answer 3

Because he is rumored to have died while receiving oral sex from Marguerite Steinheel.