Tonight on Netflix: Jessica Chastain is perfect in this charming thriller that was unfairly overlooked 7 years ago

Elizabeth Sloan is a brilliant and unscrupulous woman of influence operating behind the scenes in Washington. Faced with the biggest challenge of his career, he will redouble his wits and manipulations to achieve a victory that could turn out to be remarkable. But the methods he uses to achieve his goals endanger both his career and those close to him. Miss Sloane may finally have found her equal…

“Lobbying is planning. It’s anticipating your opponent’s moves and preparing your responses. A winner is always one step ahead of your opponent. It’s about surprising him. Without being surprised.” Jessica Chastain poses for the camera at the beginning of Miss Sloane. In this political thriller, released here in 2017 and directed by John Madden, the actor convincingly plays a brilliant lobbyist who operates behind the scenes in Washington, for which the end justifies the means.

The movie was a huge failure at the worldwide box office and that is quite unfair. It largely deserves re-evaluation, if only for its subject matter: the gravity of lobbying power, in this case, firearms secrets. Because the character she plays refuses to lend her talents to the gun lobby, which is trying to convince women to boycott a bill aimed at tightening gun regulations.

Jonathan Perera was inspired to write the script while listening to an interview on BBC News Miss Sloane. “It was a man named Jack Abramoff.”she said. “This lobbyist was put in jail for wrongdoing. I didn’t know much about the lobbying industry, but I knew it would be a great premise for a movie. I realized we’d never really get into the real world of the underlying influence. And the political deals that go on behind the scenes in Washington.

Result ? A great political thriller, more relevant than ever, carried by Jessica, who is more imperious and Machiavellian than ever. To watch (or re-watch!) on Netflix