Winning both the Best Director and Best Actress awards at last year’s Venice Film Festival, Eric Gravel‘s Full Time might be an against-the-clock thriller by design but has far more on its agenda than just nerve-rattling escapism. Part character study and part morality play that’s like a neo-realist blend between Run Lola Run and the Dardenne Brothers‘ Two Days, One Night, it’s a story about one woman’s struggle to build a better life and how she’s forced to manage that within a complex social climate.
Life in the Fast Lane
Following her knockout performance in Antoinette in the Cevennes, Laure Calamy walks a mile (or many miles for that matter) in the shoes of Julie; a working-class mother who’s not only raising two children alone but is also falling behind with her mortgage repayments. It wouldn’t be such a problem if her ex-husband was more dedicated to his parental obligations, but getting in contact with him has been hard enough, let alone waiting for his child support payments to come through, so Julie has learned how to keep her own head above water. A big part of the problem, however, is that Julie’s job isn’t exactly a stone’s throw away from the village where she resides. Travelling to Paris five days a week to work as the head chambermaid in a luxury hotel – an establishment where domestic precision holds a higher value than the five-star guests themselves – her daily routine is starting to feel counterproductive as the quality time with her family is being chipped away before her very eyes. It’s a cruel pattern that Julie’s grown accustomed to.
When a national transit strike breaks out that brings the entire network of public transport to a halt, Julie suddenly finds herself in a city-wide pandemonium that’s totally out of her control. To make matters worse, Madame Lusigny (Geneviève Mnich) threatens to stop babysitting Julie’s children just as she’s asked to attend a job interview that could lead to a path of financial freedom, catapulting her into a series of obstacles that puts everything she’s worked hard for in the line of fire.
Running on Empty
If there was ever a time to examine the social injustices of the working class, now would be it. After two years of irreversible damage to the global economy that a majority of the world wasn’t financially prepared for, it only seems fitting that a film has come along to highlight how the crushing weight of capitalism can destroy even the most resilient of human beings. Somehow we live in a world that rewards hard workers with more work and people in power with no work at all. It’s an issue that’s always been hiding in plain sight and has reverberated through the passage of time with such ease, that only a medium like cinema could magnify how quietly destructive it has been.
In spite of the well-calibrated tension throughout Full Time that feels at odds with the message at its core, Calamy justifies it with her deeply humane portrayal of a woman who’s always trying to get one step ahead only to find she’s always two steps back. She exudes a level of strength and fragility from Julie that’s universally relatable, while Cyril Gueï and Anne Suarez also deliver solid performances as people that only further reinforce Julie’s vulnerability. In fact, every character in Gravel’s script represents humanity on a much broader scale. From the hotel valet that Julie flirts with to get a taxi ride home, to the newly-employed housekeeper who gets tangled up in her web of white lies – they’re all dominos waiting in line with many others destined to fall.
Right from the film’s tender opening sequence, it’s clear that Gravel has a handle on his subject with a sensitive eye. We first meet Julie while she’s sleeping, where the director uses a montage of close-ups to show her in a state of peace that’ll be inevitably shattered by the outside world from the moment the sun rises. Victor Senguin‘s camerawork finds the perfect balance between intimacy and distance and is often complimented by Irène Drésel’s pulsating, acidic score.
Sometimes the combination of those two elements feels more manipulative than it should, but Gravel always uses the thematic foundations of his story to rationalise it at the moment. According to the director himself, scenes set in Paris were even tinted with a shade of blue to reflect Julie’s detachment from home (where the colours remain warm and radiant) and it’s those subtle flourishes that help immerse us into her world and create the contrast between safety and concern.
A Light at the End of the Tunnel
It’s been said that the most powerful filmmaking mirrors life how it is and not just how we dream it, and Gravel captures exactly that through his protagonist’s exasperating ordeal. It’s easy to find yourself short of breath as Full Time reaches its gripping finale, but it ends on a note that thankfully provides some room for resuscitation. It’s a panic-fuelled portrait of human resilience that’s crafted with both urgency and grace, examining the self-sacrificial nature of parenting and the instinct to persevere when all hope is lost.
Have you seen Full Time? If so, what are your thoughts on its message about the world we live in? Leave your comments in the section below.
Full Time was released in the USA on the 22nd of April, and the 28th of July in Australia and is yet to be released in the UK. For other release dates, please click here.
Watch Full Time
Does content like this matter to you?
Become a Member and support film journalism. Unlock access to all of Film Inquiry`s great articles. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about cinema - get access to our private members Network, give back to independent filmmakers, and more.