Gary (Tahar Rahim, "A Prophet" and "The Past") arrives at the plant looking to score danger money. He gets it, finding maintenance work close to the reactor itself. But the real danger comes in the form of his attraction to Karole (Seydoux), who also works at the facility, alongside her fiancé Toni (Denis Ménochet – Seydoux’s father in "Inglourious Basterds").
Shooting in an actual, billion-dollar Austrian plant that was completed shortly before that country voted to ban nuclear power, Zlotowski grounds her melodrama in the mundane operations of this clinical, antiseptic environment. She draws a stark contrast between this industrial space and the lush countryside that surrounds it, where the tight-knit workers can let their hair down and enjoy themselves – but she’s also alert to the wider complexities and ironies implicit in this set up, and especially the ramifications of Gary and Karole’s illicit love affair.
