(Adnkronos / Cinematografo.it) – “Maureen Kearney is weak, but she represents a threat to the established power, for this she is punished”. Word of Isabelle Huppert, who after ‘La Padrina – Paris has a new queen’ (2020) finds the director Jean-Paul Salomé in ‘La syndicaliste’, in Orizzonti at the 79th Venice Film Festival. In the cast Grégory Gadebois, François-Xavier Demaison, Pierre Deladonchamps, Alexandra Maria Lara, Gilles Cohen, with the participation of Marina Foïs and Yvan Attal, the drama frames the true story of Maureen Kearney (Huppert), union representative of the nuclear power plant of a French multinational, who became an informant, denouncing top-secret deals. She alone against the world, fought against ministers and captains of industry to bring the scandal to light and defend over 50,000 jobs. Her life was turned upside down when she was raped in her own home: the investigations are carried out under pressure, from her victim Maureen becomes a suspect. “Cinema – she observes the actress – does not have the task of instilling courage, I have decided to make a film. The true story turns towards fiction: it’s not that I don’t care about reality, but cinema takes over, otherwise it would have been a documentary ”. On the reaction to Maureen’s rape, Huppert continues: “I don’t know how a raped woman reacts, I imagine there are different ways, even extroverted ones. The atmosphere of suspicion that hovers over Maureen is interesting: as an actress, I made it credible, without favors or diminishments. She is a fighter, deeply wounded by the rape and the subsequent doubts: she puts courage and dignity into it. ”But what are your enemies of her? Salomé replies, “Maureen is alone against the men who are part of the elite, they come from the great école, but she is a trade unionist who belongs to the people, and she is punished”. And there is no gender solidarity in her parable: “The judge – continues the director – treats her coldly, because she in turn is subjected to political pressures in a highly mediatic process”. But how well known is the story of Maureen Kearney in France? “The news is not well known, right and left have no interest in making it known, neither Hollande nor Sarkozy have taken action. I hope the general public with ‘La syndicaliste’ will finally be made aware of this woman’s ordeal ”.