A Comedy of Power (L'lvresse du pouvoir)

France / Germany, 2006 (110 minutes)

Sunday June 11, 9:30pm Lincoln Square
Saturday June 17, 9:30pm The Neptune

An invitation to the home of a great chef requires no knowledge of the menu beforehand; it will surely be a culinary delight. The latest offering from the great French filmmaker Claude Chabrol, A Comedy of Power (L’lvresse du pouvior) is just such a feast. A powerful French magistrate is on the prowl against corporate corruption to the occasional dismay of her less than honest superiors. Issabelle Huppert stars as Jeanne Charmant-Killman, driven by her work at the cost of her personal life and ultimately her safety. Chabrol allows his powerful and richly composed camerawork to obsess on this exquisite actress throughout the film, who remains as remarkably beautiful now as she was in Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate. As she blithely moves from office to home an air of tense anticipation builds with the constant looming threat of retaliation from the men of power she is morally charged with pursuing.