We're the rag dolls in the gutter, we're the curses that they'll mutter, and you will still be trying on my heart just like a crown.

Two Days, One Night
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne 2014 Belgium/France
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salée, Philippe Jeusette, Christelle Cornil

In the modern day the word 'unique' isn't as meaningful as it once was. Much like 'epic' it's been so often overused (and seldom correctly) that any weight it previously held as a description has been chipped away until it's thinner than a Schwarzenegger storyline, the exact antithesis of its original meaning. So I apologise for using such an empty tautology in reference to Belgian multi-taskers The Dardenne Brothers but it's really the only phrase that fits. In some ways the siblings' brand of cinema recalls the social realism of Ken Loach but their approach is less traditional and geographically less far-reaching, instead taking the genre further and to a more intensive place, softening plot contrivances so their camera hovers like an unspoken emotion, frequently cutting or beginning a scene partway through a conversation as if it's a passer-by hearing only half of a discussion and getting caught up in it. The duo's habit of building their dramas of the everyday around female protagonists meanwhile speaks of a quality regularly attributed to a director a million miles away from themselves in terms of style and tone, Pedro Almodovar. In another link the main character here is a woman on the verge of a (second) nervous breakdown although the source of her stress is less about sexuality (the closest the film gets is the dedicated and loving marriage between the central couple) as it is about economics and psychology. The Dardennes' woman is Sandra, in recovery after a period of severe depression when she's struck with the news that, given a choice between a €1,000 bonus and keeping her on staff, her co-workers have voted for the former. After accusations of coercion from a supervisor however a second, secret ballot is arranged leaving Sandra the weekend of the title to meet with her colleagues one by one in an attempt to retain her position should she be well enough to return. As a narrative the plot acts as both a companion piece and an inversion of the pair's earlier Rosetta which followed a teenage girl also facing employment problems. She and Sandra share the same desperation and constant sense of movement but whereas Rosetta's manifested itself in the ceaseless vigour that her penniless existence demanded the roots of Sandra's twitchiness come from the anxiety of her condition, her concentration and energy drained away and replaced with lethargy and pessimism. Despite this she still carries the maturity of her years and an empathy foreign to Rosetta's youthful selfishness - even the encounters with her former workmates bare little resemblance to confrontations and she never blames them if they reject her appeals. Where the latter could with clear conscience trample another and take their place the former encourages union and support between the tiny workforce that she's a part of, the communism to Rosetta's capitalism of necessity and the only trace of Loach's old-Labour leanings. Still perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film is that the brothers have relented on their admitted favour for unknowns and non-professionals more than ever before. In 2011's The Kid With A Bike they made a tiny shift in that direction by hiring Cécile de France, a well-known and respected actress in France but with smaller name-value elsewhere, to be their leading lady but here their star is of a wholly unexpected magnitude, a Hollywood supporting player no less. The actor in question is Marion Cotillard, a sensible pick for a role that stands as the dramatic pulse of the story, and she gives a masterclass in restless unease and a performance rich in accurate nuance, only helped by a script that has her full of irrational fretting and repeating the same phrases over and over as if the words have been meticulously planned in advance and now exist as a coping mechanism to prevent any impromptu issues. Likewise the suspense is built expertly and fleeting touches, such as one worker being found giving youngsters football training (a sign both of charitable tendencies and a person who, by nature of volunteering, has an affinity with those who may need aid that may lay in their own concerns about making ends meet) or the reason for Sandra's initial decline never being revealed, set up possibilities that could send the plot, and Sandra's outlook, in either direction. Only once do they fall down in a late development that stretches plausibility slightly. As much as Cotillard dominates however the actors playing the employees face an even harder task, namely humanising their characters enough for us to relate to them in mere minutes of screen time. Most acquit themselves well although some are not really given enough screen time to make much of an impression. The Dardennes' work is always skilfully crafted but in all honesty they could have extended a couple of scenes here and there to allow a couple of their minor entities some sinew to their barebones. If the film isn't quite up their normal standard though the lasting impression is one of excellence and certainly of a larger inclination for optimism than ever before.