The Facts:
Synopsis: In 2012, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse becomes a whistle-blower, denouncing top-secret deals that shake the French nuclear sector.
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Grégory Gadebois, François-Xavier Demaison, Pierre Deladonchamps, Alexandra Maria Lara, Marina Foïs, Yvan Attal
Director: Jean-Paul Salomé
Rated: NR
Running Length: 121 minutes
TMMM Score: (7/10)
Review: There are two interpretations of the title of this political thriller, which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival and has already had a successful run in France. The first is literal: The Syndicalist, someone who works within their union to advocate for action-oriented responses for blue-collar workers. The second is a little tricker: The Sitting Duck. Both apply to the film’s protagonist at critical points in La Syndicaliste and could be seen as descriptors from opposing camps engaged in a debate over employee rights. However, take a step further back, and you begin to see how each title is also an identifier of an outlier with vulnerability, a potentially easy target for manipulation.
I know about as much regarding the nuclear dealings within the French government as I do about the inner workings of a 1985 Mazda 626, so I thought that much of La Syndicaliste was going to go straight over my head. However, the movie, based on Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s book from 2019, is far more engaging than a standard lesson in backroom government maneuverings, especially when you figure in celebrated actress Isabelle Huppert playing a real-life whistleblower who paid dearly for her bravery. The further we fall into the murky waters created by co-writer/director Jean-Paul Salomé, the less we are sure of what happened to Maureen Kearney.
In 2012, Kearney (Huppert, Frankie) taught English at Areva, a multinational group focused on managing nuclear power. Elected as the union representative, Kearney doggedly fought for the well-being of all members affected by unfair work practices, wage disputes, and wrongful terminations. After helping to see a previous sale of technology from Areva to the Chinese canceled, Kearney was outraged to find out about a secret contract that was signed a short time later and began alerting anyone who would listen. Warned off making further trouble, Kearney flew in the face of intimidation and pursued the exposure of the truth up to the highest level of government.
Then, just as she was about to meet with the President of France, she was brutally attacked in her home and horrifically victimized, apparently to silence her permanently. When the investigation turns up with no leads, the police suspect Kearney faked her attack to gain sympathy for her cause and more attention, setting off a legal battle that would put her reputation on the line. With only her account of the attack, which was fragmented due to the severity of the violence and small leads her legal team pursued on their own, could Kearney prove her innocence to the French courts and the public that had put their trust in her.
For her role in 2016’s Elle, where she also endured a terrifying violation, Huppert was nominated for an Oscar, so she displays empathy and ease with taking on Kearney’s story. There are stretches in the screenplay where Salomé and his co-writer Fadette Drouard leave the door open for some doubt, but without spoiling anything, you can always tell which way Huppert has chosen to play the role. Unfazed by verbal intimidation but shrinking when anything physical happens (side note: don’t ever grab women, like, ever) to her, Huppert instantly can give us a picture of where Kearney has been and how far she can be pushed.
When the film does slide into some geo-political debates, I’ll admit that my eyelids began to droop (doubly bad because there were subtitles to read here), but this remains primarily focused on the incident at Kearney’s home and its sordid aftermath. With her husband by her side (lovingly played by Grégory Gadebois, Final Cut) and an ally in Areva who claims to have her back (Marina Foïs, The Beasts) but might jump ship if it means her downfall, Kearney fearlessly faces her accusers and likely victimizers, unwilling to be a sitting duck but her greatest advocate. That keeps La Syndicaliste charged up as a first-rate thriller and an educationally eye-opening peek into the covert traps set inside the corridors of business.
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