The 52nd New York Film Festival: Marion Cotillard shines in Two Days, One Night directed by Luc and Jean Pierre Dardenne

Two Days, One Night is another slice of life drama from the Dardenne brothers.  Marion Cotillard plays Sandra a working class mother coming back to her job at a solar plant company after an extended sick leave. When she returns she discovers that her job has been eliminated. During her absence, her sixteen co-workers were forced to choose between saving her job or keeping their 1,000 Euro annual bonus in an open vote. Only two employees voted in Sandra’s favor.

Sandra and her kitchen worker husband Manu (Fabrizio Rongione) have only recently moved out of public housing into a modest house.  Her salary is needed to cover the mortgage. Sandra is a fragile and anxious woman who suffers from depression and overuses Xanax. She is panicked over the financial and emotional consequences of her dismissal. One of her supportive coworkers suggests that they ask the boss for a revote but this time using a secret ballot. Surprisingly, the boss agrees. Sandra has a weekend (two days and one night)  to try to persuade her colleagues to give up their bonuses and vote in her favor. Sandra is not really a fighter and feels humiliated and vulnerable asking her coworkers to stand with her and give up their money.  Supported and egged on by Mantu to fight back, Sandra travels to each employee’s home to ask for support.

The responses run the gamut from the cruel to the compassionate.  A thousand Euros is a lot of money to people who are struggling to attain or maintain a middle class existence.  For some the money is all but spent. Some feel shamed that they did not support Sandra in the first place and agree to change their vote. Others are unfeeling and angry at Sandra’s intrusion into their private lives. With each rejection Sandra sinks deeper into despair.  But husband Manu is continuously at her side as her coach and urges Sandra to continue on with her fight.

Sandra is far from a salesmen and does not make a strong case for herself.  In each home she visits there is a family much like her own, struggling to make ends meet with lives that require more income than is available.  Management has pit worker against worker to reduce the workforce. In truth, the workers will probably work harder for their bonus without Sandra. The directors do not point fingers or make judgments on anyone in this story.  Even the boss is presented as someone caught between shifting competition from China and his bottom line.  This is a factory too small to unionize and the workers must sink or swim on their own.  You feel a lack of solidarity among the employees as each of them has little job security.

The Dardenne brothers are known for making contemporary, socially aware films and have their roots in documentary film- making. They usually seek authenticity by using non–actors. However, it is the performance of Marion Cotillard that makes us really feel Sandra’s plight. Each time she asks a colleague for support we feel her discomfort and each time an employee commits to vote for her we see her triumph.  Sandra’s whole identity is caught up in this job and her need to prove she is now well and able to return to work.  Cotillard makes us feel Sandra’s ups and downs and if at times the movie seems contrived, her performance is always genuine.  This movie is set for release in early 2015.

About the Author: Barbara Castro is a Family Mediator and is currently working on a film project to introduce divorcing families to the benefits of mediation rather than litigation. She reviews films at the New York Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival for The WIP.