Movie No. 80 (2014): TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

Two Days, One Night (2014)
Director: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione
In French, with English subtitles

Sandra had a nervous breakdown and took a leave from her job in a small solar cell factory in an industrial town in Belgium. The movie starts with her returning to her job after the leave. This is the what the movie is all about. The management of the factory realizes that her colleagues can cover the job she left while on leave and she's may no longer be needed. Adding complication is the management's decision to let her colleagues vote against her reinstatement (declaring her position redundant) in exchange of a 1000-euro bonus. Over the weekend, Sandra has two days and one night to literally beg her 16 colleagues to consider voting for her reinstatement. She visits each of her colleagues in their houses to beg. It may look pathetic, but this is actually what makes the movie so humane. This is one of the best character-study-type movies I've seen recently. The span of two days and one night puts pressure on post-depression Sandra, on her marriage and family, and on the lives of her colleagues, who are really expected to have different responses to this stimulus.

The premise unexpectedly makes the movie more suspenseful than any horror or action movies. Certainly, it kept pushing me on the edge of my seat, while trying to extrapolate for how the movie would end. And the ending didn't disappoint. In fact, it's brilliant.

Rating: 4.0/4.0

Date seen: November 2, 2014