Two Days, One Night

Probably the most strongly structured film by the Dardenns, which is essentially a social thriller par excellence: the heroine has a clearly defined task (to persuade 9 employees to give up their bonuses so she can keep her job), a time limit and an opponent (master Jean-Marc, who allegedly affects colleagues over the phone). The Dardenn dynamics of movements elevated to a complex genre engine, which drives the film to an absolutely ingenious double twist at the end. I am repeating myself...but why not? No one makes films today which, in their simplicity, are able to perfectly reflect the complexity of the contemporary world - moral, personal and economic. No one is able to construct situations in such a way that the viewer is thrown into utter uncertainty, exposed to intense emotional terror without a single sign of manipulation. In the social drama genre, there are filmmakers who are close to Darden's verism, but the original is unmatched. An unpretentious monument to human tenacity, dignity, Marion Cotillard, and an urgent testimony about the state of contemporary society. Film-life. Without a single inkling of pathos. Besides that which evokes it in similarly unappealing attempts to achieve some sort of description. (09/10/2014)

It's a pity that it's not completed in a same way that it was started (even despite over-the-top starting point). But everything in the first half, despite the theme, that is not melodramatic, credibly anchored in reality and naturalistic from the department "although I (do not) approve this or that decision, I fully understand why the character decided to act like that and how the character came to this decision", is spoiled by the second half where the characters often become rather puppets, which are led through the unnatural and forced film-making decisions that are so lame that it is almost unbearable. After all, the environment for the final decision will start to be prepared at the last minute and not during the entire footage. And none of this would necessarily be such a problem (after all, it's still impressively presented and brilliantly performed; and it's not just about tired out Marion), if these aspects weren't completely contradicting everything that had been successfully developing so far. (17/11/2014)

Belgian social realism? Not interested. I haven't seen anything as manipulative as this in a long time. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne didn't even notice in their quest for an experience that an attempted suicide cannot be dismissed with a single stomach pump and have that chapter closed. It's a fake, naive, and dare I say, stupid film. It pretends to arouse interest and emotions, and festival audiences are thrilled, some simply because they believe that the truth lies in Marion Cotillard (in the absurd logic that an actress who portrays a well-groomed character is not truthful and vice versa). (14/02/2024)

“Why is she so worried about her situation when she could just get a new job,” we keep wondering in relation to the protagonist’s overdramatic behavior. And then we understand that rather than trying to keep her job, she wanted to… And the film becomes a valuable sociological study of the difficult life of one particular mortal woman. Marion Cotillard is brilliant in this. (25/07/2017)

A film about the challenges people may also face at work. The French know that Marion Cotillard is a national treasure, and they give her roles where she can absolutely shine. She does that here. Simply a woman with depression who they cunningly want to get rid of. It’s well-made, but I somehow expected it to hit me harder. (11/11/2016)