From a realist perspective，this article argues that the French-American relations in the era of the Fifth Republic of France can be divided into a period of classic Gaulism and a period of neo-Gaulism，with the 2003 Iraq war that resulted in the most consequential crisis between the two countries serving as the defining watershed moment. During the classic Gaulism period，France primarily acted as a revisionist power and pursued non-alignment，seeking as it did to establish and maintain，over a period of some 50 years，its grandeur，its national interest and its national identity by primarily challenging and balancing US hegemony. During the ongoing neo-Gaulism period，France has substantially converted herself into a status quo player and prosecuted alignment，and attempts to maintain its influence and its capability of projecting power by accepting and co-opting US hegemony while negating and balancing emerging powers. Macron’s goverment has proved a shepherd and promoter of this atlantisist turn. France’s paradigmatic turn from non-alignment towards alignment is arguably driven by a trio of structural factors. They are the deepening of the strategic asymmetry between France and US，the deepening of the strategic asymmetry between Europe and US and the de-occidentalization of the system of international politics. French-American relations are apparently embracing a pro-American long cycle.