Directed by: Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Written by: Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salée, Olivier Gourmet, Christelle Cornil
Rating: [4/5]
Living in a world where one must earn their keep through labor merely to survive on a daily basis makes someone’s place of work integral to their livelihood. Furthermore, any disruption to this, particularly from those who live right on the knife edge of poverty even more frightening. Losing one’s job could spell horrific results. Two Days, One Night puts this terrible ordeal right before someone already dealing with their own issues but her own salvation comes from her fellow working class people who must contend with their own concerns.
After taking some off from work to treat her anxiety and depression, Sandra (Marion Cotillard) learns that her place of work held a vote to lay her off because production did not miss a beat during her absence. Convincing the manager to do a re-vote, Sandra has the weekend to convince her fellow co-workers to vote to keep her on even if it means each of them would lose a €1,000 bonus if they vote again to lay her off.
Quite the stirring circumstance placed upon these individuals, Two Days, One Night asks far too much of its characters and how much their solidarity with their fellow person extends past their own necessities. Not knowing Belgian labor laws, it appears cruel to have workers vote to eliminate the position of one person and receive additional compensation as a result, but this decision sits before them once again. They completed their first vote with Sandra not present, which resolutely made the decision lopsided towards the bonus, but now given Sandra has the opportunity to make her case to her colleagues before the next vote following the weekend, it makes for a bevy of awkward conversations.
Through the conversations she has with her husband, it becomes evident that Sandra cannot afford to lose this job as her family will no longer have enough to afford where they live and will need to move to subsidized housing. Getting let go from this position simply cannot happen, but that decision no longer rests in her hands but rather at the mercy of others who must give up a bonus in order to keep her around. Each individual person she speaks to follows a distinct pattern that runs the risk of feeling repetitive as she pleads her case to them. As a result, we see varying reactions from the individuals where they also state why they’re counting on this bonus for various reasons showing each of these workers sits in a similar place financially to Sandra. Some of them list the reason why they need that particular bonus and it would be unfair to lose it just to let her come back to work.
Seeing this all happen from above shows such a cruel circumstance placed upon these individuals because the employer noticed that the work could get done without Sandra but it does require overtime hours by the remaining employees. Providing this incentive and not having the gall to just make the decision of laying off Sandra and allowing the workers to elect pits these working-class individuals against each other and truly makes for the heartbreaking conversations we witness throughout this film. You feel for Sandra but also the other workers who do not want this woman to lose her job but must take care of their own family before that of some acquaintance, at best. It makes for quite a stirring discussion you could have internally about what you would do in that particular circumstance and the bonus does not serve as a cherry on top, but something that can well and truly help your family. Truly a terrible circumstance for all.
Going from place to place sitting on the knife edge of complete collapse, we get a performance for the ages from Marion Cotillard. Funnily enough, after seeing so many of her films, Two Days, One Night serves as the first time I’ve watched a performance in her native tongue and she knocks it out of the park. She harnesses this desperation in every conversation with such delicacy and you can see how much this whole situation weighs on her. She makes each repetitive conversation riveting and watching how it concludes and how it impacts her will break your heart over and over again. Such a strong performance that continues to allow me to appreciate Cotillard’s abundant talent.
Devastating to watch but deeply human in the interactions it forces amongst these individuals, Two Days, One Night absolutely knocked me out. Putting these characters in this situation stresses how much sympathy they could have for someone going through a horrific circumstance and have the willingness to sacrifice their own monetary gain for the sake of another person having the necessities in life. I’d like to think I would vote for Sandra to have her job back, but each of these situations presents valid reasons to make the decision painfully difficult. This film’s success comes from presenting all sides of this circumstance and doing it exceptionally well.
Films with Josh 
