French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist challenger Francois Hollande clashed repeatedly in their only televised debate last night.
Mr Sarkozy often sounded angry and on the defensive four days before Sunday’s run-off.
The incumbent trails Mr Hollande in opinion polls by six to ten points despite an energetic campaign and a move to the right to appeal to far-right voters.
Before the debate, Mr Sarkozy said he wanted the prime-time event to be a "moment of truth".
Mr Hollande appeared more confident and relaxed in the early exchanges, saying he aimed to be "the president of justice", "the president of revival" and "the president of unity".
He said Mr Sarkozy, in office for the last five years, had divided the French people for too long.
The challenger said Mr Sarkozy was using the global economic crisis as an excuse for broken promises.
"With you it's very simple: it's never your fault," Mr Hollande said.
Mr Sarkozy repeatedly accused his opponent of lying about economic figures and reeled off reams of statistics in an attempt to unbalance his rival.
"Mr Hollande. When you lie so shamelessly, do I have to accept it?" he asked when his opponent said the president was always happy with his record.
"It's a lie. It's a lie. It's a lie," Mr Sarkozy said.
"The example I want to follow is Germany and not Spain or Greece," the president said, declaring that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had saved Greece from an economic wipeout and avoided the collapse of the euro currency.
"Europe has got over it," Mr Sarkozy said of the crisis.
Mr Hollande shot back: "Europe has not got over it. Europe is today facing a possible resurgence of the crisis with generalised austerity, and that's what I don't want."
He said people around Europe were watching the French election in hope that it would change Europe's direction towards growth.
The debate was carried live on channels that reach roughly half of France's 44.5 million voters.
The streets of Paris were unusually deserted with many people staying home to watch.
Mr Sarkozy needed to win a decisive victory in the debate to have any chance of catching up in the last four days, but neither candidate landed a knockout blow.
