In The trade unionist, based on a true story, Isabelle Huppert plays Maureen Kearney. In 2012, this employee of the multinational Areva, a nuclear giant owned by the French state, became a whistleblower by revealing to the media and the political class the existence of a secret, and potentially damaging, contract with the China. Soon after, she was tied up and raped in her home. On her belly, the aggressor carved the letter “A”. Treated as a suspect rather than a victim, she had to wait until 2018 before any semblance – any semblance – of justice was served and the irregularities of a botched investigation were exposed. In the title role, the immense actress is captivating as always. We spoke to him.
Directed by Jean-Paul Salome, The trade unionist is the second collaboration between the filmmaker and the star after The mum.
“Jean-Paul gave me to read the investigative book that Caroline Michel-Aguirre [Stock, 2019] devoted to the case”, explains Isabelle Huppert.
“I must admit that I did not know this story at all. Most people in France had somewhat forgotten her. Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s investigation is very rigorous, meticulous and documented. »
The star of Violette Noziere, A women’s affairAnd Shethen read the screenplay co-written by Salomé and Fadette Drouard (patients, The fine flower). Falling for something.
“I immediately saw the cinematic potential. It is a story rich in adventures, but which is also rich in gray areas and ambiguities. Which means that the film wanders a bit between several genres: thriller, thriller, film with socio-political connotations… There were many facets to this story, which it was therefore possible to define in several ways. It seduced me. And then, it was a portrait of a woman. »
close to reality
A very similar portrait, in this case, since, as Isabelle Huppert confides, her appearance in the film closely matches that of the real Maureen Kearney.
“We borrowed a lot from Maureen, her looks, with his consent of course. Because in life, she has this Hitchcockian heroine side, like that, with her blond hair pulled up in a bun. And she wears very distinctive glasses. However, glasses can confuse the issue, because we do not always understand the gaze. It creates confusion, it creates mystery. We were also inspired by her way of dressing, 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, the appearance of Maureen Kearney had been subject to comments. »
You should know that the film as such sticks closely to the facts and, which is rare, uses the real names of the people involved.
“It’s not a documentary film. But that does not mean that we are moving away from reality, nor that we interpret it in our own way. It means that we use reality in all possible ways. »
There was also, in the screenplay and in the case that inspired it, what Isabelle Huppert calls a “double aspect”, which interested her especially.
“There is, on the one hand, the abuse that Maureen Kearney undergoes – and these are facts that are quite unimaginable in a republic like ours. And on the other hand, there is this double penalty that she then suffers since we do not believe her and that she also arouses suspicion. It was interesting to try to understand how and why there had been this suspicion. Why didn’t we believe her? All these ordeals she went through stem from that, from this refusal to believe her. The scandal generated by this suspicion, the way in which his word is called into question…”
Not to mention a trying police custody, imprint of manipulation, and degrading gynecological examinations.
“In front of her, there is this policeman who does not believe her, and who judges her through a kind of mental construction… It is her blindness, and I would even say the way in which it is constituted, which ensures that he perceives it as he perceives it. Later, as she is lucid, she declares: “I am not a good victim”. »
After reflection, Isabelle Huppert adds: “It is basically what all women who are not believed undergo. »
The power of cinema
As we know, there is no role that is hard or risky enough to make the star of The pianist. Nevertheless, faced with the ordeal of his character in The trade unionistan ordeal that moreover echoes the very real one experienced by Maureen Kearney, one can only wonder if there are scores, like this one, that are more draining for the actress.
” No not at all. I would even tell you that the more complex and interesting a role is, the less demanding it is. It’s when the role is not interesting that it becomes tiring, she says, laughing. Because we then ask ourselves a lot of questions aimed at making up for everything that is missing. And then, it’s still cinema: I didn’t suffer the infernal burden that Maureen Kearney suffered. For her, it was an unthinkable ordeal, and which remains incomprehensible to this day since, if it is permissible to have doubts as to those responsible for the attack, we cannot name anyone. »
In short, we understand between the lines that during these more difficult to sustain scenes, such as the attack, Isabelle Huppert maintains a distance, ultimately more induced by the cinematographic 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. What makes that one crosses the events in a certain state of unconsciousness. And once it’s over, you say to yourself: “Ah! I did all that?” »
Yes, Isabelle Huppert “did all that”, again, and wonderfully, because it turns out that she couldn’t do otherwise.
The film The trade unionist hits theaters April 14.