À plein temps

This ought to be compulsory viewing for strikers and management alike. The fact that in the 21st century, we are still resorting to these antiquated sledgehammer tactics to deal with industrial disputes is frankly stupefying. Like they say about economic sanctions, they never effect the folks they are intended to, but the ordinary person on the street gets well and truly shafted. "Julie" (Laure Calamy) is one such person who is trying to juggle two-children single-parenthood with a shift job as the head chambermaid in a 5-star hotel whilst simultaneously trying to organise an interview with a market research company - her professional background - that will hopefully give her a better and more regular career and allow her to rely less on the increasingly wearying neighbour "Mme. Lusigny" (Geneviève Mnich) for childcare. The sense of exasperation felt by the woman throughout this film is palpable. You cannot help but feel sorry for her as she tries to juggle plates galore, keep a grasp on her sanity, keep her job, her temper and stay on the right side of her young children. Most of us who live (or have lived) in an urban area and who relied on mass transportation will appreciate just how poleaxing it can be to your entire life when the things stop running. Calamy's strong and engaging characterisation here offers us a really plausible look at what exhaustion that can cause really looks like. The ending has a redemption to it that has you leaving the cinema with a smile, but for the most part this is actually quite an uncomfortably effective look at how the actions of some - regardless of politics - can seriously screw things up for others. Surely the time has now come for locked doors, bread, water and white smoke?