KOMPROMAT

France, 2022, 127 minutes, Colour.

Gilles Lellouche, Joanna Kulig.

Directed by Jerome Salle.

The title, as explained, is a Russian word. It suggests the English ‘compromise’ but that is only part of it. Kompromat describes a plan to discredit someone, an exercise in blackmail, creating false documents to compromise or to destroy that person’s reputation. And, the opening suggests, this is what happens in Russia. And, in this story, loosely based on a true story, it happens in Siberia.

This is the story of the director of the Alliance Francaise in the Siberian town of Irkutsk, Mathieu Roussel. He is played by Gilles Lellouche, veteran of many French films, often crime and gangster films, here having the opportunity to have a significant lead. He is well liked in the town, but there is tension between him and his wife, he is devoted to his little daughter. The opening is an occasion where there is an avant-garde ballet for the townspeople – and their not reacting well to its evocative style. At the celebration afterwards, mature encounters a friendly Swedish woman, Svetlana (Joanna Kulig), married to an amputee veteran from the conflict in Chechnya, whose father is the local head of what was once the KGB.

Suddenly,  Mathieu is arrested, a dossier of accusations of him having child pornography on his computer, and a charge that he has abused his daughter. His put in a cell with brutal toughs, bewildered, denying the charges, interrogated, magistrates against him – and the potential for 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.

Eventually, the French authorities negotiate home arrest with an ankle bracelet. But, he has received food packages, goes to the supermarket to find who could be, finding that it is Svetlana. She is able to get him an Internet connection.

So, the audience is asked to empathise with Mathieu, to experience his bewilderment, anguish, uncertainties.

And, as the drama goes, what else is he to do but plan an escape. At the beginning of the film, we have seen him in a forest, pursued by guards, being shot at. Now, with his escape, shrewdly done, false leads that he has gone towards Mongolia, with the aid of Svetlana and going to Moscow, taking refuge in the Embassy, causing political embarrassment, the only thing to do is continue the escape, a plan to get to the Estonian border.

There is tension in the final pursuit, the aid of Svetlana and his devotion to her, a twist with a message from his wife, and the pursuit of a vicious military detective even to the Estonian border.

Life is very dark in Siberia, the film rather literally dark, more light as Mathieu makes his escape, then dark in the border forest.

Released in 2022, in production before the invasion of Ukraine, the audience is not inclined to be sympathetic towards Russia.

1. The title, a Russian word, its meaning, compromising reputations, destroying reputations, blackmail?
2. The Russian setting is, the remote city in Siberia, the Alliance From says, homes, police precincts, the brutal prison? Official police officers? The Embassy in Moscow? The range of travel, by bus, car, day and night, the countryside, Moscow, the final forest and border? The musical score?
3. The film based on a true story, the experience of the director of Alliance Francaise? The trumped up charges? Police, secret police, brutality? The director, imprisonment, home prison, the details of his escape?
4. The opening, in the forest, the guards following Mathieu, the shots? The film as flashback? The finale in the forest, the confrontation with the pursuer, material almost drowned, reversing roles, getting to the border?
5. Matthieu, the appointment in Siberia, the local authorities, people working for the Alliance, the ballet performance, provocative, the audiences not pleased? The aftermath, drinking, dancing, meeting Svetlana, her past with the Alliance? His relationship with his wife, tensions, her going to yoga, the bond with Rose? Their going home from the performance? The disappearance, returning to France?
6. Mathieu, his arrest, the charges, pornography on his computers, molesting his daughter? His reaction? With the magistrate, severity? In the cell, the brutality, the advice? The food deliveries? The intervention of the lawyer, his suspicions, Svetlana? The video of his wife denouncing him? His being allowed to go home, the bracelet, his testing it for the response? Going to the supermarket, meeting Svetlana, getting the Internet connection? The bond between them?
7. Svetlana, her husband, wounded in Chechnya, her father-in-law head of the secret police? The tensions between husband and wife? Memories of the dancing with material, her husband not able to dance, his angry reactions about her dancing? Her decision to help material, the supermarket, the visits, the phone calls, her arranging to go to Moscow for the audition, driving Mathieu, the contact at the Embassy, taking him to the border, the sexual connection, her leaving and driving back?
8. The tensions of the escape, the plan, the bus, leaving the phone on the bus, his going in the opposite direction, the various drivers, their chatter, the religious leader, hiding him at the border, hiding in the car boot, wishing him well? Mathieu going to the embassy, getting in, the discussions with the ambassador, the political embarrassment, his having to stay? The escape plan, Michelle at the Embassy, her earlier visit to Siberia, her support?
9. Mathieu, getting out of the Embassy, meeting with Svetlana, the drive?
10. Svetlana, her husband, the clashes with his father, his dominating father, the husband hanging himself? The grief of his father?
11. The revelation that Mathieu’s wife had been pressurised to make the video condemning him?
12. The ex-general, harsh, in pursuit, his associates, going to Moscow, losing Mathieu in the street, the plan for the Estonian border, driving, pursuing, the confrontation, the fight, almost drowning Matthieu, the reversal of roles?
13. Mathieu, the Russian pursuers, the Estonian guards?
14. The open end of the film, the phone calls to Svetlana? A future?