Starring: Laure Calamy, Anne Suarez, Genevieve Mnich
Distributor: Palace Films
Runtime: 88 mins. Reviewed in Aug 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
| 
| 
A week in the hard life of working mother Julie as she juggles family, childcare, demanding jobs – made all the more difficult by a transport strike. Day by day she manages but it is too much.
Thank goodness that full time ran for only 88 minutes. This is meant as a compliment, not as a put down. For the first 60 minutes and more, the pace is frantic. And, not only are some of the characters exhausted, but so many of us, sitting comfortably in our cinema seats, are as well.
This is a story of a week in Julie’s life (Calamy). She is a working mother with two small children – up early in the morning, making breakfast, taking them to the elderly lady who will care for them during the day, getting the train into Paris, getting to work, head of the staff at a three-star hotel, non-stop work in cleaning the rooms, assessing the work of the others, clocking out and then getting the train home.
As if this is not hard in itself, the Paris transport is on strike. So, clogged freeways with cars, trains running spasmodically, not going to their destinations, the need to change to buses, passengers deposited and having to run to work. And, as the week goes by, the strike situation gets worse. And so does the anxiety of the old lady looking after the children, a daughter urging her not to do this work, putting more pressure on Julie as to who should look after the children.
The way that the film works, and which makes it so exhausting (technically very effective), is that for the main part, each shot is very brief, the editing fast-paced, a lot of tracking camera work, especially as passengers look at the passing suburbs, buildings, life in Paris, and there is an insistently relentless score beat which emphasises how frantic Julie can become – and how frantic we are as we identify with her.
And, there are complications at work, especially as Julie has the opportunity to go for an interview for a new job – and the lack of taxis to get to the interview, her persuading the concierge to get her a ride, difficulties with getting time off, no permissions, getting the work done during lunch break, persuading the newcomer to clock out for her, with disastrous results. And that is the first hour.
With relief, there is a bit of respite over the weekend, although it is the little boy’s birthday, Julie has hired a van to bring home a trampoline as a gift, setting it up, the party, her being exhausted. And the issue of the nanny and whether she can continue.
Calamy is effective and believable as Julie. So is her boss, the other maids. Just when all seems doomed…
12 Random Films…
