La syndicaliste - The Sitting Duck

Directed by Jean-Paul Salome

Starrings: Isabelle Huppert, Alexandra Maria Lara, Marina Foïs, Yvan Attal, Pierre Deladonchamps, Grégory Gadebois, Geno Lechner, Christophe Paou, Aloïse Sauvage, François-Xavier Demaison, Gilles Cohen, Yves Heck, Mara Taquin, François Loriquet, Olivier Loustau, Christian Hecq

Country: France, Germany

Year 2022

Review Author: Shane Virunphan

Click Here for Italian Version

“So, grappa is for you, and seminars are for me."

Political occupation of state-owned companies has always been a country's prerogative. A state corporation has its own budget, follows civil rules, and manages millions or billions of dollars. The government and parliament often lose the control for these funds.

Sometimes, or more than sometimes, these multinationals finance parties or politicians. Therefore, one of the first tasks of any government is to take total control, appointing politically friendly managers at its command.

This happens everywhere.

Areva was a French enterprise dedicated to nuclear development. Worldwide, they sold nuclear power plants. It is a powerful company with a stratospheric turnover. All presidents need to appoint loyal administrators:

“Par hasard, elle a atterri chez Areva, fleuron industriel des Trente Glorieuses, né de la volonté du général de Gaulle de maintenir la France dans le concert des nations. Maîtriser l'énergie nucléaire, c'est maîtriser la bombe atomique, et donc rester un membre permanent du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies.” (1)

In 2001, Anne Lauvergeon, close to François Mitterrand, became Areva president. She disturbs the EDF, omnipotent national society, like others, led by trusted political figures.

“En 2009, Nicolas Sarkozy a nommé Henri Proglio à la tête d'EDF. Un homme à poigne, au caractère ombrageux et au visage sans joie, qui avait fait toute sa carrière dans une entreprise privée, le distributeur d'eau Générale des eaux, devenue Vivendi, puis Veolia. Sa mission consiste à récupérer la couronne d'EDF. La bataille a duré deux ans. Le baron Henri l'a emportée. En 2011, la reine Anne a été chassée de son royaume, mais Maureen Kearney, son alliée, a continué la lutte. Au nom des autres salariés, elle a cherché à protéger Areva, leur gagne-pain, des appétits d'EDF. Le successeur d'Anne Lauvergeon, Luc Oursel, était un patron peu sûr de lui, colérique et cassant. Ils étaient nombreux, chez Areva, à penser que le nouveau président se comportait en vassal du baron Proglio. Maureen Kearney et tout le comité de groupe européen s'opposaient à lui et aux plans d'EDF.” (2)

These events are narrated by Caroline Michel-Aguirre in her book La syndicaliste (Caroline Michel-Aguirre, La syndicaliste, Hokus Pokus, Éditions Stock, 2019). The book recounts the misadventures of Maureen Kearney, an influential Areva trade unionist. She opposed the petty and secret negotiations to sell off Areva.

Caroline Michel-Aguirre shows them:

“ … une Jeanne d'Arc irlandaise et illuminée, elle a entendu une voix, celle de la reine Anne, lui intimant l'ordre de se sacrifier. De s'humilier au point de mettre en scène un viol pour barrer la route au démantèlement d'Areva.” (3)

The book is well written, full of details and dialogues, ideal to be used for investigative cinema. Following this aim, Jean-Paul Salomé directed La syndicaliste - The Sitting Duck, starring a strong-willed Isabelle Huppert. The film was presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival.

17 December 2012. Voice-overs from a phone call. There was an attack at Maureen Kearney's home. She was tied to a chair and raped. Assailants inserted a knife handle into her vagina and marked her stomach with a triangle.

Flashback a few months. Maureen is a combative and resolute trade unionist at Areva. She is discussing cuts with employees.

Political movements affect the pawns of state enterprises. Maureen loses her precious reference. President Anne Lauvergeon has been transferred. It is the beginning of a hidden project to sell off Areva's resources to other companies, even Chinese ones.

Maureen obtains this confidential information and begins her own battle. However, fighting these interests is extremely dangerous. Therefore, they lash out at Maureen and her family.

Even the rape immediately turns into an accusation of simulation.

Maureen will get her honour back by restoring the truth after years.

The film exhibits the characteristics of the investigative genre. An intricate fact of bad governance, concerning the energy administration; says the author:

“... a debate concerning the future of French and European energy independence.” (4)

Nevertheless, the film is different. With tenacity, he tells the story of a determined, adamant woman, even with her weaknesses:

“… the story of a woman, the story of a woman's struggle, a portrait of a woman. That was what I was interested in showing and that was what Isabelle was interested in showing.“ (4)

An aggressive woman who can fight for years, albeit in a neurotic, anxious, nervous but resilient way. She is probably obnoxious but loved by her husband and daughter. The husband appears peaceful, amusing.

They are a rich, wealthy family. They have a beautiful villa on the lake.

Maureen is a prima donna, a diva. She dresses elegantly. For Jean-Paul Salomé, it is a defence:

“We worked a lot on the physique, looking as much as the real Maureen Kearney as possible. Seeing her on film now, they are almost like twin sisters. […] What we copied from Kearney was the colour of her hair, the earrings, the suits that she wore… Everything represented an armour that she wore to confront these powerful men.” (4)

Jean-Paul Salome is precise in the film structure. As a result of internal infighting within the nationalized companies, things are less clear and uncertain. The following are political manipulations. The infighting within, more uncertain and less clear. In this, the film is dissimilar from the book, where the squalid intrigues are more elaborate.

There is a conflict between Maureen and the entire human race. The twist and the trial with the lawyers' animation.

In the film, there are interweaving, rhythm, tension, atmosphere of institutional Paris, but it is also very formal. Copious in particular such as Maureen's clothes, the music, the suspense, the vibrant sequences of the court and the police behaviour.

1. Caroline Michel-Aguirre, La syndicaliste, Hokus Pokus, Èditions Stock, 2019. Traduzione google translate French English: “By chance, she landed at Areva, the industrial flagship of the Glorious Thirties, born of General de Gaulle's desire to keep France in the concert of nations. To master nuclear energy is to master the atomic bomb, and therefore to remain a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council..”

2. Caroline Michel-Aguirre, La syndicaliste, Hokus Pokus, Èditions Stock, 2019. Traduzione google translate French English: “In 2009, Nicolas Sarkozy appointed Henri Proglio as head of EDF. A tough man, with a touchy character and a joyless face, who had spent his entire career in a private company, the water distributor Générale des eaux, which became Vivendi, then Veolia. His mission is to recover the crown of EDF. The battle lasted two years. Baron Henri won it. In 2011, Queen Anne was driven from her kingdom, but Maureen Kearney, her ally, continued the fight. On behalf of other employees, she sought to protect Areva, their livelihood, from the appetites of EDF. Anne Lauvergeon's successor, Luc Oursel, was an insecure, angry and brittle boss. Many at Areva thought that the new president was behaving like a vassal of Baron Proglio. Maureen Kearney and the entire European works council opposed him and EDF's plans.”

3. Caroline Michel-Aguirre, La syndicaliste, Hokus Pokus, Èditions Stock, 2019. Traduzione google translate: “…an Irish and enlightened Joan of Arc, she heard a voice, that of Queen Anne, ordering her to sacrifice herself. To humiliate himself to the point of staging a rape to block the way to the dismantling of Areva.”

4. https://techprincess.it/la-syndicaliste-jean-paul-salome-isabelle-huppert/ Translated by author.