Two Days, One Night (2014)

Perfectly adorable

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Deux Jours, Une NuitAn idea that is barely of a daily episode, is projected with such fine details and exquisite writing that one cannot not feel for the characters revolving around it and drown into their world. Deux Jours, Une Nuit is an epitome of an 'out-of-the-box' concept, creativity and its originality that art is supposed to offer the viewers. The writer-director duo, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne are familiar and of their art and the world they have created which even though is confined within few characters but still explores large part of the space in it. Marion Catillard breeds vulnerability, loss and affliction and pours it onto the screen with independent wings of hope that doesn't and won't need a stage or support from anyone; she is a revelation in this one. Deux Jours, Une Nuit is written with passion, executed and edited by such fine talents and performed and projected by a skilled actor that ups the ante of this feature onto the major league.

I mainly found out about this Belgian-French-Italian film because of the leading actress being nominated during awards season, I had no idea what it was about, I was just hoping for something worthwhile, directed by brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne (Rosetta, The Kid with a Bike). Basically in the industrial town of Seraing, near Liège, Belgium, Sandra Bya (Oscar nominated Marion Cotillard) is a young wife and mother to two children, she works for Solwal, a small solar- panel factory. After suffering a nervous breakdown, Sandra has been forced to take time off from her job, on medical leave for depression. During Sandra's absence, shop foreman and her immediate supervisor Jean- Marc (Olivier Gourmet) suggests to the boss, M. Dumont (Batiste Sornin), that her section of the company can function with sixteen people working full time with a bit of overtime. The management proposes a €1,000 bonus to all staff if they agree to make Sandra redundant, near the end of her medical leave she returns to work and discovers that her fate rests in the hands of her sixteen co-workers. Sandra's friend and co-worker Juliette (Catherine Salée) learns a "show of hands" vote was held, the result a 13-3 decision for the bonuses over Sandra's job, Juliette knows Jean-Marc is determined to get rid of Sandra. The vote was influenced by scare mongering through misinformation, but Juliette and Sandra at the end of the Friday working day are to convince Dumont to hold another secret ballot on Monday morning. Sandra needs a majority to keep her job, meaning nine votes, by Saturday morning, Sandra's supportive husband Manu (Fabrizio Rongione) convinces her that over the weekend she should speak to all thirteen of her colleagues who voted for the bonuses to get them to change their minds. They not only need the income from Sandra's job, but Manu believes the job is a symbol for Sandra, to prove her own self worth and for her mental state. Sandra reluctantly goes about this task, visiting and finding her colleagues one by one, most of the co-workers however need the proposed bonus for their own families. Finally it comes to Monday morning, the factory workers have a second ballot, but the vote is tied, with eight votes to keep the bonus and eight for Sandra to leave, as a result, Sandra will lose her position. However, the factory manager calls Sandra into his office, he agrees to give her a job, but in the end, she decides to turn it down, Sandra has found the emotional strength to deal with the situation and the confidence to start anew, to pursue a new life for herself. Also starring Pili Groyne as Estelle, Simon Caudry as Maxime, Alain Eloy as Willy, Myriem Akheddiou as Mireille, Fabienne Sciascia as Nadine and Timur Magomedgadzhiev as Timur. I can see why Cotillard was nominated the Oscar, she gives it her all as the ordinary working-class woman coming out of depression now on the edge trying to keep her job, it is a fairly simple humanistic story, the majority of which is just the leading character knocking on doors and talking to her co-workers about whether they will change their mind or not, but it is interesting enough to keep you hooked until the end, a worthwhile drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language. Very good!

Since the visceral despair of the excellent, yet hard to take Lorna's Silence, the Dardenne Brothers have been getting soft. The Kid With a Bike was, for me, dangerously close to maudlin. Two Days, One Night is a much better film than its predecessor, but it also finds the Dardennes in a more sentimental, accommodating mood. That isn't to say that its best qualities aren't outstanding. There's something quite unique about the way it builds great suspense through what is essentially a repeat of the same conversation between the protagonist and various supporting characters. If the Dardennes are often compared to Bresson, this film reminded me more of Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc, with the camera never far from the distraught face of its subject, studying every pained line and wrinkle, as if mercilessly empathetic. My problems with the film concern its last two minutes or so, which, if not quite a happy ending, seem sugar-coated- providing just a pinch too much closure. However the most distracting flaw, for me, was the casting of the glamorously beautiful movie-star Marion Cotillard as the factory-worker facing potential joblessness. I feel bad for saying that as Cotillard's performance is superb. But the Dardennes are known for naturalistic casting, and they apply that in every case in this film except for the lead. Indeed, Hollywood movies get a pass for casting beautiful stars as "regular folks" because the whole Hollywood aesthetic is to depict everyone as an idealized "type". Here, the actress's exceptional beauty just seems out of place, no matter how fine her acting may be.

I've read review after review and cannot believe that essentially the only issues/complaints about this film are with regard to the (slow) pace. It isn't the fastest moving film, but I don't think that detracts from it, nor do I take issue with the acting (which I think is very good overall). The story itself is certainly unique.....Here are my problems with the film --- I have a hard time with the story itself. Is it from living in the US? The idea that a company would let it's employees decide the fate of another worker is absurd to me. It's not fair to anyone and serves as a morale killer (as witnessed in the film). It sets employee against employee and certainly does not necessarily benefit the company. It made the film a bit difficult to watch. Yes, Sandra needs her job...but so does everyone else! Why, as the viewer, should we be pulling for her? I just didn't "feel it". When, at the end of the film, Sandra says "we put up a good fight", I wanted to scream. What fight??!! You didn't go up against a huge corrupt union or a multi-billion dollar company, you went door to door making your co-workers feel uncomfortable and trying to guilt them into losing their bonuses. And her husband. Some reviews refer to his "support" of Sandra. In my mind, he comes off as a non-participant at best and reckless at worst. He doesn't do anything but drive her around and push her when she wants to stop....even after she tries to kill herself! After that (and based on her shaky mental history), he should have said "no more".I guess the assumption is that finding another job is not easy in this small town (?), but it's certainly an option...but it is not even mentioned until the very end. It might have made the film less frustrating had the viewer thought "well, finding another job is next to impossible". Maybe if you live in Belgium, this is more obvious? Perhaps.As much as I appreciated it on certain levels, the film ultimately frustrated me.