She became a whistleblower when she revealed a secret deal between the state-owned utility Electricité de France and a Chinese power company, which Kearney feared would transfer sensitive nuclear technology from Areva to China and threaten thousands of French jobs.

The Sitting Duck was produced by Le Bureau in co-production with France 2 Cinéma, Restons Groupés Productions, Les Films du Camélia and Germany's Heimatfilm.

The website's critics consensus states, "Isabelle Huppert's understated performance keeps La Syndicaliste's whistleblower story stirring even when its messaging drifts toward the didactic.

[19] Fabrice Leclerc of Paris Match wrote, "This gripping thriller, a moral study on the mysterious strings of power and the CAC 40, delivers a successful indicment of the elites, never clumsy".

[21] Le Point called it a "fake thriller" that is instead a portrait of "an elusive, unpredictable, even eccentric woman with her kitsch look, her colorful outfits and her collection of spectacular glasses and earrings".

[23] Reviewing the film following its Venice premiere, Stephanie Bunbury of Deadline wrote, "Huppert, who can convey an ocean of feeling with the twitch of an eyebrow, embodies this unassuming heroism so effectively that you hardly notice that a much bigger story has been allowed to become a blur".