we need to remember that France is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship
Technically no, and practically... Well, sort of indeed. I believe that we should use such terms (dictatorship) carefully - France is not Cuba to that respect - but I certainly understand what you mean. I would agree that there is a de facto ruling class that gets going almost for life, with a few polls in between that happen to be nothing but a simulacrum of people's choice. Face it, most if not all, of the mainstream French politicians have been running the show for the last 10, 20 or even 30 years, which is one of the reasons why they're so utterly corrupted: it's just too easy to help yourself (and "friends") in that context. And I won't mention nepotism as a general rule.
Besides, electoral regulations protect the said nomenklatura by making it outstandingly difficult for any new alternative to arise with any significant chance in the ballots. I'm not even sure they was more than a couple of genuinely new alternatives able to balance the corrupted old order in that country for the last 60 years - the endless row of mix-ups, splits and (re)united fronts of all kind doesn't count of course.
It's just there to help the money laundring.