Definitely so. He is convincing. He believes in what he says. His aura in France is that of a looser magnifique, a flibustering poet-diplomat. A bit passé now of course. — Olivier5

He's still a politician though, and associated the whole

In 2004, French judges were given a list by an anonymous source containing the names of politicians and others who, it was alleged, had deposited kickbacks from a 1991 arms sale to Taiwan into secret accounts at Clearstream, a private bank in Luxembourg. The most prominent name on the list was that of Nicolas Sarkozy, Villepin's rival for power in the UMP. The list was later shown to be fraudulent, a discovery Villepin kept from the public for 15 months at a time when the two men were vying for party supremacy.[17] Meanwhile, the source of the list was later revealed to be a longtime associate of Villepin's, one Jean-Louis Gergorin, an executive at EADS. Critics claimed that Villepin, perhaps with the support of then-president Jacques Chirac, had tried to defame his rival. Sarkozy, in turn, filed a suit against whoever was behind the creation of the Clearstream list. Villepin was eventually acquitted in 2010[18] (see #Clearstream trial below). — Villepin, Wikipedia

... A passage that paints Sarkozy as the victim--and maybe he was--but who later went on to get embroiled even larger corruption scandals involving kickbacks for submarines and just brief cases of cash from the Oreal fortune.

On 1 July 2014 Sarkozy was detained for questioning by police over claims he had promised a prestigious role in Monaco to a high-ranking judge, Gilbert Azibert, in exchange for information about the investigation into alleged illegal campaign funding. Mr Azibert, one of the most senior judges at the Court of Appeal, was called in for questioning on 30 June 2014.[153] It is believed to be the first time a former French president has been held in police custody, although his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was found guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust while he was mayor of Paris and given a suspended prison sentence in 2011.[154] After 15 hours in police custody, Sarkozy was put under official investigation for "active corruption", "misuse of influence" and "obtained through a breach of professional secrecy" on 2 July 2014.[155] Mr Azibert and Sarkozy's lawyer, Thierry Herzog, are also now under official investigation. The two accusations carry sentences of up to 10 years in prison.[156] The developments were seen as a blow to Sarkozy's attempts to challenge for the presidency in 2017.[157][158] Nevertheless, he later stood as a candidate for the Republican party nomination,[159] but was eliminated from the contest in November 2016.[160] A trial on this case, Sarkozy's first, started on 23 November 2020.[161]

In April 2016, Arnaud Claude, former law partner of Sarkozy, was named in the Panama Papers.[166]

On 23 November 2020, the trial of Nicolas Sarkozy started who is accused of corruption and influence peddling, for an attempted bribery of a judge. The trial was postponed until November 26, following a request from one of his co-defendants for health reasons.[167]

On 1 March 2021, a court in Paris found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption, trading in influence in a wiretapping and illegal data exchange case involving a number of individuals like magistrate Gilbert Azibert and Sarkozy's former lawyer Thierry Herzog. Both men were tried with him and convicted as well. Sarkozy and his two co-defendants were sentenced to three years, two of them suspended, and one in prison.[168][169] Sarkozy appealed the ruling, which suspends its application. — Sarkozy, Wikipedia

... So maybe Villepin was just the best of a rotten lot, or too dumb or too arrogant (I think typical French attitude about him today).

Of course, it's not like Villepin is running the red cross or anything since leaving public office:

Soon after his exit from daily political life, on 9 January 2008 de Villepin returned to legal practice.[24] Since then, he has travelled on business to Iran, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia.[24] Over its first two years, the bureau had revenues of 4,65 million euros and earned profit of 2,6 million.[24] Alstom, Total and Veolia and the Bugshan family conglomerate have all been clients.[24] His main client for a time was Qatar,[25] and he has a close relationship with Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and her mother Moza bint Nasser.[24] He advocated forcefully the Palestinian cause during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict,[26] at the request of the Qataris, and protested the French legal ban on Islamic facial veils for women in 2014.[27] De Villepin counsels the Qatar Investment Authority.[28] He is president of the advisory board of Universal Credit Rating Group, a Sino-Russo-American bond credit rating agency, and international advisor to China Minsheng Bank.[24] — Wikipedia

So ... maybe just a realist idealist, that was too naive or too clever with too much ambition for his own good (notably: he did get acquitted).

However, the above scandals were so massive and messy (leading to far more "all politicians are corrupt" kind of attitude in France -- and super charging the far right, who are generally at least not "corrupt", as they have no power), that the French generally just want to forget about them all: hence Macron could just waltz in and won the presidency with an entirely new party he invented literally the year before.

Is my feeling from when I lived in France, people just didn't want to talk about it anymore (even though I was still super enthusiastic).