comedy of power

*1 lady of law part 1: comedy of power

as a law student i am sometime a little hesitant about seeing films

that deal with the law. much like i assume most doctors don't sit down

to er or grey's anatomy. but for some reason i was drawn to l'ivresse

du pouvoir (a comedy of power).

the film i belive is somewhat based on the elf white collar corruption

scandal during the 1990s. investigating judge, jeanne ("the pirahna")

charmant-killman (played by isabelle huppert, an actress i fell in

love with because of i heart huckabees (2004)) is finally coming to a

head on a matter she has been investigating suspected embezzlement and

fraud against a range of corporate bigwigs, starting with a well-known

group of companies boss humeau (played by fran�ois berl�and).

in her victory against humeau she sets out on to blow the whole

scandal - involving african nations, swiss bank accounts and french

business heads and politicians - wide open. but at what cost?

interestingly jeanne becomes almost addicted to her quest to do

justice, despite attempts on her life and vandalism of her office.

there seems to be something more below her politely pointed

interrogations. but her need to "do the nation good" ravages her

personal relationships.

jeanne is an interesting character and very much a victim of women in

law. the masculinity of the law is unquestionable. For centuries it

was men who spoke the law - as judge, as counsel, as commentator - it

was a language embedded with masculinity. i was going to post more on

this topic but this post would have gotten too long, so please see the

my entry dealing with the masculinity of jeanne's character.

another thing i left the film with was a sort of subtle bitter taste

in my mouth from its illustration of the perversion of justice. the

film was somewhat depressing - not because of any bad filmmaking or

acting on the part of director or cast - but because of how it

demonstrates the fragility true justice in a legal system riddled with

other interests. you can read more on this reading of the film in

another follow up post.

see the synopsis

Posted by plastikkpoet at 1:12 AM