Deux Jours, Une Nuit (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2014)

The Belgian Dardenne brothers, veterans of Belgian socially earnest cinema, have ploughed a Loach-like furrow since the '70s with features and documentaries about lower-class life in their home country. Having a big name like Marion Cotillard therefore seems like somewhat of a departure, but she's asked to slot into their realist milieu and acquits herself with aplomb. Her depiction of fragility and despair is immense.
She plays Sandra, a woman discovering upon returning to work following a bout of depression that the company has forced the rest of the employees to vote between letting her keep her job and their own bonuses. She insists she is fit to return, but it's immediately clear that she's one stumble away from a relapse. Nevertheless, her husband persuades her to talk to everyone individually in a bid to change their minds before a second vote.
It may be hard to believe the callousness of the company's approach in effectively making the workers do their dirty work for them, and this is the one polemic note from the directors, but the varied reactions of the workers themselves as she encounters them, pleading, are very lifelike indeed, as they either justify their self-interest or succumb to guilt. And then you realise that whatever the end result, Sandra's victory will be a Pyrrhic one as too many bridges will have been burnt.
Two Days, One Night is a profoundly deep exploration of social conscience that asks questions long after the closing credits and was probably too close to the bone to get that Best Foreign Language Film nomination. Their loss.

8/10