Movie Review - Two Days, One Night

Two Days, One Night *** (out of 5) (PG-13) This subtitled French drama offers a fascinating premise. A woman (Marion Cotillard) is ready to return to her job in a small factory after four months of medical leave for depression. On the preceding Friday, her 16 co-workers are asked to vote - either she comes back, or her position is eliminated, spreading her salary into a 1,000 euro bonus for all. Only two go her way. But some unfair influence by the foreman in framing the options causes the boss to hold a new vote on Monday, giving her the titular weekend window to lobby her colleagues.

This puts everyone in the position of giving up substantial money to accommodate her or seeming unreasonably selfish. Cotillard’s character has two kids and desperately needs the income. She’s obviously a nice person, and hates having to ask others to make such a sacrifice, but she’s not the one who created the problem. The film covers her emotionally arduous weekend of reluctantly asking each person for support, while understanding how hard it would be for any of them to eat that loss for her sake.

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne co-wrote and directed a first-rate screenplay, featuring a broad spectrum of feelings and issues among the Cotillard and all the voters, as well as a fine vehicle for Cotillard’s impressive range as a performer. This makes her second Oscar nomination for leading actress, after winning in 2007 for La Vie en Rose. Though she doesn’t need to hide her natural beauty as when she portrayed Edith Piaf, I’m always impressed by those who choose to feature their acting chops, rather than coast on looks.

No two respond in the same way, or for the same reasons. Without disclosing specifics of their reactions or the outcome, rest assured that the product is highly intelligent, sensitive and relatable. Given all the upheaval in Western economies - particularly as it makes job security more illusory than it’s been since the Great Depression - this rock-and-a-hard-place dilemma challenging all the staff seems all too emblematic of life when the pendulum of leverage has swung so far to the employers’ side. We should all hope it proves to be more insightful about the human condition than prophetic. (2/13/15)