Two Days, One Night (2014)
(Deux jours, une nuit)
Country: BEL/FR/IT
Technical: col 95m
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione
Synopsis:
Returning after a period of sick leave to her place of work, a young mother discovers herself to be the object of a constructive dismissal, with former workmates offered the lure of a cash bonus to overlook feelings of employee solidarity. After appeal to higher authority, she secures the weekend to see each of her colleagues in turn and try and talk them round to her side.
Review:
Having first confronted their heroine with the truly daunting prospect of asking each of her co-workers to forego �1000, the directors then take us every step of the way through the sisyphean process itself, as in Rosetta, sharing her fragile triumphs and crushing disappointments as she risks tipping back into the depression that laid her off in the first place. Meanwhile, however, we are offered a glimpse into the personal circumstances of each of the sixteen other characters, providing another illustration of Renoir's famous maxim: 'Everyone has their reasons.' Thus, given the impossible position into which he has placed so many, we see the foreman's heartlessness for what it is, without its being rammed down our throats as a political rant. Once again the Dardennnes show that theirs is truly a socialism with heart.
(Deux jours, une nuit)
Country: BEL/FR/IT
Technical: col 95m
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione
Synopsis:
Returning after a period of sick leave to her place of work, a young mother discovers herself to be the object of a constructive dismissal, with former workmates offered the lure of a cash bonus to overlook feelings of employee solidarity. After appeal to higher authority, she secures the weekend to see each of her colleagues in turn and try and talk them round to her side.
Review:
Having first confronted their heroine with the truly daunting prospect of asking each of her co-workers to forego �1000, the directors then take us every step of the way through the sisyphean process itself, as in Rosetta, sharing her fragile triumphs and crushing disappointments as she risks tipping back into the depression that laid her off in the first place. Meanwhile, however, we are offered a glimpse into the personal circumstances of each of the sixteen other characters, providing another illustration of Renoir's famous maxim: 'Everyone has their reasons.' Thus, given the impossible position into which he has placed so many, we see the foreman's heartlessness for what it is, without its being rammed down our throats as a political rant. Once again the Dardennnes show that theirs is truly a socialism with heart.
(Deux jours, une nuit)
Country: BEL/FR/IT
Technical: col 95m
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione
Synopsis:
Returning after a period of sick leave to her place of work, a young mother discovers herself to be the object of a constructive dismissal, with former workmates offered the lure of a cash bonus to overlook feelings of employee solidarity. After appeal to higher authority, she secures the weekend to see each of her colleagues in turn and try and talk them round to her side.
Review:
Having first confronted their heroine with the truly daunting prospect of asking each of her co-workers to forego �1000, the directors then take us every step of the way through the sisyphean process itself, as in Rosetta, sharing her fragile triumphs and crushing disappointments as she risks tipping back into the depression that laid her off in the first place. Meanwhile, however, we are offered a glimpse into the personal circumstances of each of the sixteen other characters, providing another illustration of Renoir's famous maxim: 'Everyone has their reasons.' Thus, given the impossible position into which he has placed so many, we see the foreman's heartlessness for what it is, without its being rammed down our throats as a political rant. Once again the Dardennnes show that theirs is truly a socialism with heart.