Two Days, One Night

I really wasn't sure of the premiss at first here, but a strong effort from a Marion Cotillard-led cast of natural acting talent does actually bring it off well. We learn that there's been a sort of a referendum at her workplace where the boss has given them a choice. The staff can keep their €1,000 bonus or they can forgo that and "Sandra" gets to keep her job. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she's lost that ballot but when she discovers that one of her colleagues was briefing against her and doing some scaremongering, she manages to get "Dumont" (Baptiste Sornin) to agree to allow another vote. Now she, and her husband "Manu" (Fabrizio Rongione) have to embark on some whistle-stop diplomacy as she must try to convince her workmates that she is a price worth paying. This film is told very much from her perspective, so we are aware of just how strenuous this is for her and her family. She needs the work - for the money, yes, but also for her sanity. The others, however, well we only really encounter them in brief soundbite form as she tries to pitch to them. We don't really learn about their own predicaments nor are we really given much understanding of just how crucial this sum of money might be to them and their own families. It's that developing scenario that didn't quite work for me here, but there's no denying the almost visceral effort delivered by Cotillard as an increasingly frustrated "Sandra" who finds herself more and more emotionally drained as the weekend takes it's toll on everyone. The writing and the direction are potent and taut and it does invite us to ask what we might do in similar circumstances as colleagues or as one struggling with the psychology this dilemma poses.