A film by Valérie Donzelli
With: Bastien Bouillon, Marie Rivière, Virginie Ledoyen, André Marcon
A successful photographer gives up everything to devote himself to writing and discovers poverty.
Our rate: **
Valérie Donzelli’s At work easily falls into the category of films that are interesting to see in theaters, but we feel that entering them into festivals does them a disservice, since they are designed primarily for audiences, to share a perspective on a subject, rather than as works of art. For those who haven’t read Franck Courtès’s eponymous book, the adaptation, carried out by several people (including Courtès himself), seems successful, proving moving and drawing on some good ideas in terms of narration rather than staging. Valérie Donzelli succeeds very well, and surprisingly so given her taste for fantasy, in capturing the writer’s own perspective and questioning the view that everyone may have of others in a steamroller society that likes to make poverty invisible and blame those who are confronted with it… to the point of making people believe that poverty could be a deserved punishment, especially for those who hold on to ideals or values considered utopian. In addition to condescending, moralizing attitudes, At work has the good taste to turn the mirror around and address other perspectives, this time focusing on self-image [transposing Franck Courtès’ view of himself], self-esteem, but also the image reflected in his family. The process calls for empathy, to the point of touching us, of making us wonder how we got here, of condoning a society that values those who crush, know how to sell, and grind down those who refuse to do so, either by nature or conviction. Finally, let’s note the interesting nod, again in reverse mirror image, that introduces Courtès in a reverse cameo (he has his own book signed) and the relative ambiguity of the final scene, which departs from the success story to leave the specter of fear of tomorrow looming, but also suggests that the main character has finally found his balance and meaning in his work.
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