Kompromat ★★★½

THE French thriller Kompromat has been unfairly criticised for not paying enough respect to its source material.

Director Jérome Salle did not manage to get the rights to the book by Yoann Barberau which tells the true story of Barberau’s arrest in Siberia on charges of paedophilia and then his attempted escape from the authorities.

Apparently Barberau’s book is a particularly well-written and intellectual study of the Kafkaesque circumstances surrounding his arrest.

The first half of Salle’s gripping film has elements of the book’s approach and themes, but for the second half it becomes more of an outright chase thriller.

The film is told in three different time periods during its first half, giving equal time to different potential reasons for the French public servant’s arrest.

Is it due to the stage production that causes affront to his theatre company’s Russian benefactor, jealousy at his interaction with a particular woman at a nightclub or the alleged testimony of his estranged wife? Or maybe it’s a combination of all three?

Whatever the truth, Matthieu (Gilles Lellouch) is targeted and facing decades in prison when his lawyer, who has managed to get him home detention while awaiting trial, tells him the only solution is to escape as he will be found guilty.

Matthieu is aided by the woman from the nightclub, at risk of grave danger to her, and her relationship with him as well as her husband provide more depth to the story’s second half.

A strong thriller with well-drawn characters and an interesting political backdrop.