L'Ivresse du pouvoir / A Comedy of Power

Claude Chabrol: L'Ivresse du pouvoir / A Comedy of Power (FR/DE 2006) starring Isabelle Huppert (Jeanne Charmant-Killman) and François Berléand (Michel Humeau).

Vallasta juopuneet / Maktens rus / Geheime Staatsaffären.
    FR / DE 2006. PC: Alicéléo and four other companies. P: Patrick Godeau.
    D: Claude Chabrol. SC: Odile Barski, Claude Chabrol. DP: Eduardo Serra. M: Matthieu Chabrol.
    C: Isabelle Huppert (Jeanne Charmant-Killman), François Berléand (Michel Humeau), Patrick Bruel (Jacques Sibaud), Robin Renucci (Philippe Charmant-Killman), Thomas Chabrol (Félix).
    110 min.
    A print from Non Stop (Sweden), Swedish subtitles by Camilla Stjerneholt. E-subtitles by Lena Talvio.
    Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 15 Jan 2008.

The seventh collaboration of Chabrol and Huppert. Huppert has usually played the killer, and in a way she does so now, too, complete with the symbolic name. This time, she is not the criminal but the judge determined to expose a web of big-time corruption. She is merciless and sacrifices even her private life to the crusade. There are interesting insights in the story, like the ploy to team two female judges, in the expectation that they will turn against each other, but those hopes are foiled. The material is top interesting, but this film is not Chabrol at his best.