_Two Days, One Night_ is microdemocracy in motion, anchored
by Marion Cotillard's career-best performance. In a way it
is a trial, like _Anatomy of a Fall_, except that the jury is
made up of Sandra (Cotillard's) coworkers, who will vote on
whether she is rehired into their small factory at the expense
of a 1000 euro bonus.

It has taken me a long time to catch this film, given my
aversion to Cotillard's prevailing sleepwalking acting style.
Here credit must go to co-directors (the Dardenne brothers)
who elicit such conflicted, lived-in, and hyper-emotional
work from the usually laid-back actress. The two are renown
for coaxing naturalist performances out of non-professional
or unknown actors, but their work with established stars
should not be overlooked. Sandra, who has just recovered
from depression, wears the same beat-up pink T-shirt all
film long and is frazzled to the point of despair as she
calls on 16 of her coworkers to support her reinstatement.
Just like in real life, women and immigrants prove more
willing to help than the males, who are more likely to get
into fist-fights or yell at their wives. But there are a
few kind-hearted male characters, especially Sandra's
endlessly supportive husband. One option she surprisingly
does not consider is to pay 1000 euros to each coworker;
that must be just a few months' salary, but I guess that
would be buying votes, jury-rigging? Regardless, it is
another heartfelt, humanistic story from the Dardennes,
leaving you angry at our neo-liberal capitalist world
order but also hopeful for the human race. The camera
work and set designs are brilliant in an understated way
and provide resistance to despair. I haven't caught up
their recent film _Tori and Lupika_; their work doesn't
seem to travel any more. But I will watch that eventually.

-------------------------------------------------------

Martin Provost, who has directed the brilliant _Violette_
and the more middling _Midwife_, must be a more serious
auteur than I gave him credit for. Only true auteurs
go off the deep end and make something as incoherent
and embarrassing as _How to be a Good Wife_. Juliette
Binoche's Paulette Van der Beck is the headmistress of
a finishing school for future housewives; her sister-in-
law Gilberte (Yolande Moreau) and the nun Marie-Therese
(Noemie Lvovsky, unrecognizable) provide campy support
for the female enslavement instructions to a bunch of
poor teenagers. You can say the film is about Paulette's
comeuppance and redemption, but it gets lost in so many
directions along the way, including her affair with a
banker. Early on it seems the teenage girls might be
the focus; then all their stories seem to be snapped off
in the middle. The film starts out as a not-funny farce
and ends as a musical. I'm sure Joe Wright, also
prone to going rogue, will sympathize. Maybe I'm being
harsh here; I have never taken to Binoche (one of the
greatest dramatic actresses alive) as a comedian (see
also her pratfalls in _Slack Bay_, which come to think
of it I prefer to this film). She doesn't seem to
have the Melanie Laurent or Sandrine Kiberlain sense
of comic timing. This kind of broad comedy might be
better off for Isabelle Huppert, who hasn't bothered
to "act" for a while now. But I'm willing to be
proved wrong! It is also possible Provost has not
provided the foil for her to play off of. Provost
has a film about Pierre Bonnard and his wife coming
next. The director does much better with films about
artists, and I am glad Bonnard gets some much deserved
cinematic exposure. I sure prefer his paintings to
Picasso's or Cezanne's, the flavor of the day (or
century), both of whom are done to death in movies.

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