There's a lovely tongue-in-cheek disclaimer at the beginning of this film to the effect that neither the events nor the characters depicted are based on real people or events, especially, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, the Elf scandal which rocked France lo, these few moons ago. No film of course should presuppose a previous knowledge on the part of the audience; the average film-goer outside France will have little or no knowledge of Elf and the French Government Ministers involved in corruption just as the average film-goer will know of Marie Antoinette only that she once said 'let them eat cake' and by coincidence Sophia Coppola's take on Marie Antoinette opens here, in London, tomorrow, whilst L'Ivresse du pouvoir is showing as part of the London Film Festival so it's a case of how do you like your corruption, in the 20th century heart of France or 17th century suburban Paris, that's about Versailles of it. What matters in either case is the quality of the film-making; is it good, bad or indifferent. I've yet to see the Coppola but the Chabrol is out of the right bottle. Not a lot happens dramatically despite a nobbled car and a leap from a window, it's basically cat and mouse between Huppert's incorruptible judge and the highly corruptible ministers/big business she's attempting to nail - if she IS incorruptible Huppert is not above getting high on her power to imprison some of the fattest cats with their whiskers in the cream (yet again a title has been badly translated; the literal meaning of the French title is the drunkenness of power or, more colloquially, drunk on power) which makes the French title more clear. Anybody who expects Huppert to turn in even a mediocre performance is seriously stupid and here she is right on top of her game well supported by Francois Berleand, who only a couple of years ago played her husband in Les Soeurs fachees, and here proves, as they used to say in Zenda, an opponent worthy of her steel. Go see, trust me.
Review of Comedy of Power
