La Syndicaliste

Maureen Kearney, played by Isabelle Huppert, is an Irish trade union representative living in France. Teaching English to employees at Areva, she becomes head of the union and learns of a secret arrangement between the company's leadership and the Chinese government: a contract involving the sharing of French nuclear technology and the loss of thousands of jobs. After she makes it public she is attacked in her own home. Neither the police nor the press believe her; she is accused of staging the assault and, after a punishing period in custody, is pressed into a confession. She later retracts it and is cleared. Jean-Paul Salomé's film is adapted from Caroline Michel-Aguirre's investigative book. Its real subject is not nuclear politics but how a woman's account is voided by institutions, and in the second half the tension runs entirely on credibility. Who it is for: viewers who like political thrillers drawn from real cases, and Huppert. Who it is not for: anyone who would rather not approach scenes of sexual assault and interrogation.