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Isabelle Huppert is a woman on a mission in this drama based on a real-life French scandal. Determined to expose corrupt businessmen at any cost, the magistrate puts her marriage, career and life on the line as she interrogates men who've been dipping into the company pot to pay for expensive holidays and mistresses. It's a very talky drama, but well-performed and insightful, although the light touch means it rarely packs an emotional punch.

In the 1990s, corruption in the Elf Aquitaine company was investigated by a female judge, Eva Joly: the clear inspiration for Huppert's character, Jeanne Charmant Killman. But Huppert's long-time director Chabrol doesn't present a clear cut case of tenacious feminist versus greedy fat cats, as a Hollywood picture starring, say, Demi Moore might. He's more than willing to paint Killman (kill, man, coincidence?) as a flawed individual who becomes increasingly addicted to the power she gains from incarcerating sexist philanderers. Any potential drama is kept firmly in check, however, in this sensible, slightly plodding picture of an intelligent woman who only becomes stronger when she's underestimated.

"SLY BUT ODDLY SLIGHT"

Interesting moral questions are raised: the issue of how far you stretch expenses is surely a notion familiar to many an office worker, even if it's more a question of a liquid lunch than priceless jewellery. But A Comedy Of Power fails to dig deep into this idea, or into the life of its protagonist. It's largely left to the charismatic Huppert to make this sly but oddly slight drama a decent watch.

The Comedy Of Power is out in the UK on 14th December 2007.