Will be screened in competition at Sydney Film Festival

Two Days, One Night
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Country: Belgium, France, Italy
Runtime: 95 mins
Language: French
Premiere Status: Australian Premiere
Year: 2014
Classification: 18+

The Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, are amongst that select group of filmmakers who have won the Palme d'Or twice: for Rosetta (1999) and The Child (2005). They return to the Competition at Cannes with their latest. Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, The Dark Knight Rises, Rust and Bone) is wonderful as Sandra, a woman in a precarious position. Her employer at a solar-panel factory has given her colleagues a stark choice - they must choose to either receive a bonus or have Sandra return to work after a leave of absence. An initial ballot is not promising for her. The employer agrees to another vote, leaving Sandra one weekend to convince the majority of her colleagues to sacrifice their bonuses so she can keep her job. With the help of her husband Manu (Dardenne brothers regular Fabrizio Rongione), Sandra visits her colleagues one by one to make her case. With this intriguing premise, the Dardennes fashion a very special film. Without ever resorting to sentimentality, the film is filled with great emotion and sensitivity. Every brief interaction between Sandra and her individual colleagues is so rich with possibility that you can imagine each of these working-class characters inspiring a film of their own. Two Days, One Night is gentle in tone but provocative in spirit.

Screenings:
Mon 9 Jun, 7:15 PM - State Theatre
Tue 10 Jun, 12:15 PM - Event Cinemas George Street 4