Job Security: Review of Two Days, One Night

Two Days, One Night

Directors: Jean Pierre & Luc Dardenne

By Alex Watson

Like everyone else, I fully understand the pressure of having to find work and the sheer fear that comes from potentially losing it. For days on end you feel that restlessness and sleep becomes a forgotten dream. This week, Belgian directors, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne return with a compelling vision of a woman literally fighting long and hard to keep her job from vanishing. With Marion Cotillard starring, Two Days, One Night could well be a heart rendering experience!

Sandra (Marion Cotillard) is a woman recovering from depression which forced to take sick leave from her job at a Solar Panel factory. Before she can return, Sandra discovers a shocking truth- workers were forced to work overtime to cover her hours, so their dreaded foreman has asked her fellow employees to vote between receiving a bonus, or making her redundant! With little time to spare, Sandra must visit each worker to convince them to let her keep her job.

Two Days, One Night is another refreshingly real but immensely raw effort by the Dardenne brothers. Throughout this excellently paced film, the characters put before us are ones that are so identifiable in our every day lives that we feel the pain throughly. Sandra isn't made out to be a heroine of our times, just a woman attempting to return to an old life, only to find a surprise that could push her over the edge. In a moment we are drawn to her struggle of convincing eight of her sixteen cash strap colleagues to give up their bonus but we also identify with her mental burden of the task.

As she visits each worker pleading for them to vote for her rather than against, the humiliation she feels is strongly presented. The reactions from bothering her co-workers on their weekend off vary from a fit of violence from a hot headed male, to numerous understanding but reluctant apologies, to finally one ashamed worker sobbing his eyes out and demanding forgiveness. Their difficulty of these choices is underlined by the unfair stance management has taken by shifting blame onto workers and now we a system which is in conflict.

The most fitting part of Two Days, One Night is in its down to earth feel and the people we meet could be the average person on the street. The Dardenne brothers present this story to us in a very minimalist style which also rings very true. Sandra may be struggling both mentally and physically and secretly you may question whether she is ready to work, but her willingness to plead for help and make a good fight are the films firing pin.

Marion Cotillard gained another Oscar nomination this week for her fine work in this film, which has been well deserved. In the Dardenne brothers movie, Cotillard is so heavy involved with her character that the film revolves around her performance. Demonstrating a great sense of agony and desperation, she brings alive Sandra and we firmly feel the strain she is under. Great support is also given from Fabrizio Rongione as her supportive although suffering husband.

Two Days, One Night is another fine effort from the Dardenne Brothers who are currently proving themselves to one of the masters of European cinema these days. If you haven't already seen their efforts such as L'Enfant, then this is a place to start!