Par suite d’un arrêt de travail... (2008) - film review

Not for the first time, the workers of France are in revolt.  Strikes, demonstrations and a general mood of rampant bolshiness bring the entire country to a standstill.  Planes are grounded, trains services are suspended and the roads are blocked.  For Marc Roux, this could not have come at a worse time.  In less than 24 hours, he has to be in Rome to sign a contract that is vital for his company’s future.  But here he is, stuck at Lyons station, going nowhere.  He strikes up a conversation with a fellow sufferer, Vincent.  Realising that the trains are unlikely to be moving for several days, Marc decides to drive to Rome in his Mercedes.  To share the driving and relieve the monotony he offers a lift to Vincent, who willingly accepts.  It is a decision that Marc soon regrets when he realises that Vincent’s political views and approach to life are wildly different to his own...

Twenty years after making his directorial debut with Entre Paris minuit (1986), Frédéric Andréi hopped back into the director’s seat to deliver this idiosyncratic road movie set against the backdrop of May 1968-style social unrest across France.  Although Frédéric Andréi is better known as an actor - he is best remembered for playing the role of the opera-obsessed postboy in Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Diva (1981) - he has also made his mark as a documentary filmmaker and stage director.  At a time when industrial action is becoming increasingly prevalent in France, Par suite d’un arrêt de travail... offers a thoughtful reflection on how strikes are perceived in France by the public, although Andréi was quick to deny that his intention was to make a political film.  More buddy movie than social commentary, the film explores the nuances of the left-right divide in France through the improbable friendship that develops between two characters who bookend the two sides the of political spectrum.  Andréi’s aim, presumably, was to show that what at first appears to be a black-and-white schism turns out, on closer examination, to be shades of grey.  Just as France’s present socio-political situation is far more complex than it seems, so the main characters in Andréi’s film are not the familiar stereotypes we mistake them for.  They may have different points of view, their outlook on life may be different, but beneath the surface they are two of a kind, lonely middle-aged men just trying to get by.    

After a promising opening, which will doubtless bring back very happy memories to anyone who has been stuck in France when the annual strike season gets underway (which nowadays is every other month), Par suite d’un arrêt de travail... soon settles into the familiar road movie groove and, once there, offers few further surprises.  By the mid-point you are left wondering just where, if anywhere, the film is going as, like its two main protagonists, it just seems to wander aimlessly across the countryside, having lost sight of whatever goal its writers originally had in mind.   The only thing that staves off an attack of boredom is the very welcome presence of its two lead actors, Patrick Timsit and Charles Berling, a chalk-and-cheese pairing that works surprisingly well.  Both actors make the most of the downbeat humour that just manages to bring a little sparkle into the lacklustre screenplay, although what is perhaps more commendable is the subtle poignancy they bring to their portrayals.  At first you wonder why two such disparate individuals should be drawn to one another - is one of them wearing a brand of aftershave that is so utterly irresistible?  As the film develops, we come to see just why Marc and Vincent need each other.  Neither character is as self-sufficient as he seems, and it is evident that without the other’s support neither would have arrived at his destination.  Without labouring the point, the film offers a timely reflection on the need for friendship and mutual support in a world where we are becoming brainwashed into thinking that we can go it alone.  Maybe this is why national strikes are so popular in France?  The French just can’t help showing solidarity towards one another.  One out, all out.  Vive la fraternité!

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