Isabelle Huppert plays Maureen Kearney in La syndicaliste, based on a true story. In 2012, this employee of multinational Areva, a nuclear giant owned by the French state, turned whistleblower by revealing to the media and political class the existence of a secret and potentially damaging treaty with China. Shortly thereafter, she was tied up in her home and raped. The attacker scratched the letter “A” into her stomach. Treated as a suspect rather than a victim, she had to wait until 2018 before she got any semblance – any semblance – of justice and the irregularities of a botched investigation exposed. In the title role, the outstanding actress captivates as always. We spoke with him.
Directed by Jean-Paul Salomé, La syndicaliste is the second collaboration between the filmmaker and the star, following La Daronne.
“Jean-Paul gave me Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s investigative book to read [Stock, 2019] dedicated to the case,” explains Isabelle Huppert.
“I have to admit that I didn’t know this story at all. Most people in France had forgotten something about them. Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s investigation is very rigorous, meticulous and documented. »
The star of Violette Nozière, Une affair de femmes and Elle then read the screenplay co-written by Salomé and Fadette Drouard (Patients, La fine fleur). Fall for something.
“I immediately saw the cinematic potential. It’s a story full of adventure, but also rich in gray areas and ambiguities. As a result, the film wanders back and forth between several genres: thriller, thriller, film with socio-political connotations… This story had many facets that could therefore be defined in different ways. It seduced me. And then it was a portrait of a woman. »
close to reality
In this case, a very similar portrait since, as Isabelle Huppert confides, her appearance in the film is very similar to that of the real Maureen Kearney.
“We borrowed a lot from Maureen, her look, with her approval of course. Because in life, she’s got that Hitchcock hero inner side, with her blonde hair tied up in a bun. And she wears very distinctive glasses. However, glasses can confuse the subject as we don’t always understand the gaze. It creates confusion, it creates puzzles. Her way of dressing also inspired us, again with her consent. So with Jean-Paul, we didn’t look very far to compose the character. It was all the more relevant as an approach at the time, Maureen Kearney’s appearance had been the subject of comments. »
You should know that the film as such sticks closely to the facts and, rarely, uses the real names of the people involved.
“It’s not a documentary. But that does not mean that we distance ourselves from reality or interpret it in our own way. It means we use reality in all sorts of ways. »
Also, in the script and the case that inspired it, there was what Isabelle Huppert calls a “double aspect” that particularly interested her.
“On the one hand, there is the abuse that Maureen Kearney is subjected to – and these are facts that are completely unimaginable in a republic like ours. And on the other hand there is this double punishment that she then suffers because we don’t believe her and that she also arouses suspicion. It was interesting to try to understand how and why this suspicion arose. Why didn’t we believe her? All of the ordeal she’s been through stems from this refusal to believe her. The scandal this suspicion creates, the way his word is being questioned…”
Not to mention grueling police custody, evidence of tampering, and humiliating gynecological exams.
“In front of her is this cop who doesn’t believe her and who judges her by some kind of mental construction… It’s her blindness, and I would even say the way she’s made, that makes him perceive it, how he perceives it. Later, when she’s in her right mind, she declares, “I’m not a good victim”. »
Isabelle Huppert adds thoughtfully: “That’s basically what all women go through who aren’t believed. »
The power of cinema
As we know, there’s no role tough or risky enough to push La pianist’s star back. Given the ordeal of her character in La syndicaliste, an ordeal that also recalls the very real one experienced by Maureen Kearney, one can only wonder if there are scores like this that are more tiring for the actress.
” Not at all. I would even tell you that the more complex and interesting a role is, the less demanding it is. If the role is not interesting, it becomes exhausting, she says, laughing. Because then we ask ourselves a lot of questions about everything to make up for what is missing. And then it’s still cinema: I didn’t suffer the hellish burden that Maureen Kearney suffered. For her it was an unthinkable ordeal that to this day is incomprehensible because, if we have doubts about those responsible for the attacks are permissible, cannot name anyone. »
In short, we understand between the lines that Isabelle Huppert maintains a distance during those more difficult scenes like the attack that is ultimately dictated more by the cinematic process than by the actress herself:
“When you’re making films, you’re surprisingly unaware of what you’re doing. This is the extraordinary power of cinema. We are made by a film more than we make it ourselves. Which causes one to traverse the events in a certain state of unconsciousness. And when it’s over, you say to yourself, “Ah! I did all that?” »
Yes, Isabelle Huppert “did it all again,” and did it wonderfully, because it turned out she couldn’t do anything else.
The film La syndicaliste starts on April 14th.