Reason 1 – Understand what a corporate whistleblower is
One morning Maureen Kearney, CFDT executive representative and general secretary of the European Group Committee Areva – played by a masterful Isabelle Huppert – is attacked at home. She was working on a sensitive file in the French nuclear sector and was under violent pressure both politically and from his leadership to cover up the affair.
What is a whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who discloses information on activities that constitute a threat or harm to the public interest.
Learn more about the corporate whistleblower
For two hours, we discover the daily life of this whistleblower made of violence, low blows, manipulation… up to aggression. She is found tied up, raped and marked with an A on her stomach at her home. “If I had known that I was going to live this outburst of violence and lies for 6 years, I would not have done it”, explains Maureen Kearney, now 67, during a post-screening discussion. Quickly, she is even suspected of having invented her aggression to attract attention. At the time, she didn’t have the “profile of the good victim”, she says today. His fight is still not over because his attacker is still running.
Isabelle Hupert as Maureen Kearney © 2022 Guy Ferrandis – The Office Films
Reason 2 – See the ambient misogyny in the industrial world
The film takes place in 2012. Anne Lauvergeon (played by Marina Fois) on the departure of Areva following a political decision not to renew her for a new mandate at the head of the nuclear group, and Maureen Kearney are, throughout of the film, reduced to their condition of ignorant women and out of place in this world controlled by men. At that time, the Labor Code already provided for equal treatment between women and men. In this biopic by Jean-Paul Salomé, discrimination is flagrant and omnipresent.
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Reason 3 – Recognize power violence
Anne Lauvergeon’s replacement, Luc Oursel (played by Yvan Attal in the film) is an uncontrollable leader. Violent and verbally abusive and able to swing a chair across a room in an attempt to silence Maureen Kearney and impress her. This big boss that we would like from another age is eaten away by his work, his ambition and the internal and institutional power struggles (in which he participates and which he willingly fuels).
Yvan Attal as Luc Oursel © 2022 Guy Ferrandis – Le Bureau Films
Yvan Attal gave substance to Luc Oursel, this number 2 who does not have the stuff of a number 1 and who will also be crushed by this story. He was made to wear round glasses, which contrast with his difficulty in managing emotions: under the external roundness, a great susceptibility and a violence ready to burst. Oursel really threw a chair in the middle of the board!
Jean-Paul Salomé, director of the film “La syndicaliste” You might be interested in:
“The Maureen Kearney affair” or the shattered life of an overly curious trade unionist
France 3 Paris / Ile-de-France broadcasts a documentary mini-series on Thursday March 2 which also returns to the terrible story of Maureen Kearney. Directed by Nina Robert, it is a counter-investigation on this state affair, against a backdrop of rivalry between two French industrial giants: AREVA and EDF.