Die Gewerkschafterin

This film tells the complex story of political and corporate machinations in the French nuclear industry, along with the central character's lengthy legal battle to clear her name of charges of fabricating evidence, following a personal attack upon her. At times it feels as if the film is struggling to accommodate both stories in a single narrative - the details over the secret deal with the Chinese get a bit lost once Kearney's personal story (which has echoes of the British PO scandal) takes over. Isabelle Huppert is a fine actress, who presents Kearney as someone to admire rather than to like. I felt as if I might have got more out of the film if I had known more about either the legal case, or the French nuclear industry, but it is an interesting, compelling story about the struggles of an individual against powerful unsympathetic officialdom.