Laure Calamy out of breath in “À plein temps”

Poster detail Full time by Eric Gravel

CRITICAL — Julie struggles alone to raise her two children in the countryside and keep her job in a Parisian palace. When she finally obtains an interview for a position corresponding to her aspirations, a general strike breaks out, paralyzing transport. It’s Julie’s entire fragile balance that is wavering. She will then embark on a frantic race, at the risk of sinking.

The film takes place during the major social movement against the pension reform of 2019, which spread to all spheres of activity, causing major transport strikes and lengthening the days of already exhausted local residents. Director Éric Gravel relevantly translates a contemporary evil, that of timed daily lives, frantic paces of life, especially in big cities that many seek to escape. In this context, the film almost has the appearance of a documentary, Julie's individual fight adding to the collective fight.

Focused on a few days, the film follows Julie, who seems to live one day without end. We see her tackling the same tasks over and over again. First waking up, with the preparation of her two children before going to school, then the journeys on public transport, and finally the precise gestures and the codes to respect in the context of her job, maid in a palace. Added to this are the complications of everyday life: money problems, loneliness, pettiness between colleagues, and especially transport strikes, which are difficult to manage when you live in a peri-urban area and have to go to Paris. every day. To play Julie, you needed Laure Calamy, or rather Calamity Laure. Both powerful and fragile, the actress manages to balance the character. Éric Gravel places her at the center of all his shots, we follow her every movement, she occupies all the space and her energy sets the rhythm of the film. She manages to remain sunny despite the disorders that disrupt her daily life.

The musical score with electronic notes, signed by the artist Irène Drésel, serves this stressful daily life. It echoes the inner music that plays within Julie. As a spectator, we experience it, it appears when things accelerate, accentuating the tension already present. But this permanent panic also constitutes the intensity of the film and contains the message desired by their director: to depict the permanent race against time of these people who bet on living far from the capital for a better quality of life, requiring a balance that Julie struggles to find. If you live in Paris and are hoping to go to the cinema to escape your daily life, you may be disappointed. It’s a dive into the most stressful aspects of daily life, transport strikes to boot. It's a constant panic where, until the end, we don't know if the heroine will manage to make ends meet. We then understand the impasse Julie finds herself in: she cannot escape her daily life. An immersion “In body” and soul in the world of dance, by Cédric Klapisch REVIEW — With his fourteenth feature film En corps, Cédric Klapisch proves that he still has things to say and that he knows how to say them, especially how to film them… March 26, 2022 – 12:45 Culture “A people”, faithful immersion in the epic of the Yellow Vests CRITICAL — On November 17, 2018, the Yellow Vests began a movement that will mark history. In the documentary film “A People”, director Emmanuel Gras ch… February 25, 2022 – 6:38 p.m. Culture “Goliath”: a real societal lesson against an environmentalist backdrop CRITICAL — If his committed dimension will surely prevent him from flirting with the biggest, "Goliath" still lives up to its name. The long time of filmmaking… March 14, 2022 – 12:00 Culture

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