AFI Fest Review: Two Days, One Night

When a radiant Marion Cotillard and the spindly brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne took the poduim at the Egyptian Theater last night to introduce Two Days, One Night (or Deux Jours, Une Nuit for the French speakers), it was appropriately brief.  The brothers barely spoke at all, using their time at the microphone to say that as much as it was their movie, it was Cotillard's.  She then appeared to rapturous applause to speak of the film as her most satisfying experience as an actor, and to wish us a "good movie."  Altogether, the three spoke for maybe two minutes, if that.

I say it was an appropriate introduction because the film is one of few words, often repeated.  Cotillard, in one of her most commanding and understated performance to date, plays Sandra, a depressed mother of two who is finally ready to come back to the solar panel company where she works.  However, during her leave, she was found to be an unnecessary asset, as 16 workers were able to effectively do the work of 17.  Thus, the boss brings forth a vote for those 16 workers: does Sandra keep her job, or do the workers each receive their 1,000 euro bonus.  At the behest of her husband Manu (Fabrizio Rongione), Sandra goes out to speak to each of her coworkers, hoping to convince them to vote in her favor.

What follows is a series of variations on the same subject.  Again and again, we hear Sandra explain the situation, and the need for her salary at home.  Just as often, her coworkers ask how many people she has persuaded, state that the dichotomy - however unfair - isn't their fault, and insist that they need the bonus.  What sounds like a slog is actually a thrilling cycle, as we tally the votes and wonder who might change their mind at the moment of truth.  It's a perverse show of democracy, selfish groupthink setting in as everyone fights for what they think is rightfully theirs.  The ludicrousness of the situation rears its head only rarely, in moments of surprising violence and humor.  This is such small drama, but as Sandra bears the burden, it becomes parodically epic.

The bleeding heart and soul of the film is Cotillard, who plays a character who, like Jessica Chastain's Eleanor Rigby earlier this year, is searching for the will to fight, and to live.  Popping Xanax, craving rest, and battling guilt throughout, Sandra is 1 Should-Be Angry Woman, trying to convince the people who strangely hold her fate in their hands to vote for her.  She doesn't possess the righteous anger that she perhaps should, at least not at the beginning, but she finds her footing, and her venom, as the vote teeters on the brink of saving her job.

The Brothers Dardenne have again proven themselves the masters of real-world drama.  Financial security, familial stability, and mental health are concerns that plague us all, even if not directly.  These are the daily battles of being human, and they are beautifully, realistically on display here, given life in one of the year's finest performances.