La Syndicaliste review – French ​sexual abuse thriller takes cheap shots

Based on a true story, this slippery and rather disingenuous French-language thriller explores the case of Maureen Kearney (Isabelle Huppert, a little too impassive and icy), a high-powered union official for a major player in France’s nuclear power industry. When Maureen gets wind of a deal that could lead to massive job losses in the sector, she unilaterally declares war on the powers that be, petitioning politicians and making some very powerful enemies in the process. But when Maureen is violently sexually assaulted in her own home, the initial sympathy and shock within the industry turns to suspicion when the police accuse her of faking the attack.

It’s not unusual, unfortunately, for the victims of sexual attacks to find themselves distrusted and even accused. What rankles in the film’s approach is that the audience is also encouraged to question her story, with director Jean-Paul Salomé seeding the picture with doubts about the veracity of Maureen’s initial version of the events, even as it shows her vindicated in the end. It feels crass and manipulative to cast aspersions on the tale of a real-life rape victim in service of a narrative twist in a movie.