Kompromat

Based on incredible but true events, Jérôme Salle’s gripping new espionage thriller depicts the remarkable story of a French public servant who unwittingly finds himself in conflict with one of the modern era’s most powerful and dangerous forces: the FSB, Russia’s state security agency. Gilles Lellouche stars as Mathieu, a dedicated diplomat who accepts a posting to Irkutsk as the head of Siberia’s Alliance Française. He hopes the change will be good for his family and struggling marriage. But before too long Mathieu’s staging of cultural events and support for artistic expression sees him fall foul of the local authorities. Salle delivers pulse-pounding, ticking-clock cinema at its most compelling and entertaining.