Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #28. Jean-Paul Salomé’s La Syndicaliste

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La Syndicaliste (The Sitting Duck)

Jean-Paul Salomé moves the pendulum from crime caper to crime thriller but with biopic elements in his second consecutive project with Isabelle Huppert. With a newly added supporting cast (Benoit Magimel, Marina Fois, Alexandra Maria Lara, Grégory Gadebois and François-Xavier Demaison), a 2022 shoot is imminent. Entering his third decade of filmmaking, La Syndicaliste (which will be known by international auds as “The Sitting Duck“) quickly follows La Daronne (aka Mama Weed) – which surprisingly didn’t receive any prestige film festival premiere but played extremely well at the French box office. This is produced by Le Bureau’s Bertrand Faivre.

Gist: An adaptation of the French novel “La Syndicaliste” by Caroline Michel-Aguirre, this is co-written by Fadette Drouard and tells the story of Maureen Kearney (Huppert), is a whistleblower who is found in her home, tied to a chair, the letter “A” carved into her abdomen, and a knife handle inserted into her vagina. Traumatized, she has no memory of the assault. But the investigation uncovers new elements leading Maureen to become a suspect.

Release Date/Prediction: If production begins this month or next, then Locarno becomes could be an option and perhaps Venice and/or Toronto is a possibility as well.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society) and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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