Full Time, the second film of our 78th season achieved an overall appreciation score of 84%. Many members found this exhausting, stressful but also excellent, while some found the film lacked a plot and was disappointing. Some of the comments submitted:
- I deliberately relaxed into it, or I would have been totally stressed. Excellent portrayal of a completely overstretched woman, and her manipulative behaviour to try and make it work. Keep them coming!
- French realism at its best. Never before had a thriller been set so well on the mundane commute of a single mother, frantically trying to juggle work and childcare. I was gripped from start to finish. I can really relate and feel the visceral tensions oozing off screen with the protagonist rushing from one place to another. It speaks not only to the broader conditions of alienation under high capitalism but the mere fact that housing in our cities have become so unaffordable for the working-poor that reliance on public transportation for out of town commute become the treadmill that feed the rat race. When said treadmill breaks down, so too is the entangled lives of the protagonist and those affected by her inability to commute (e.g. the kids, the childminder, the co-workers, the boss, the friends she no longer sees). One may judge the protagonist all too quickly – chalking it up to lifestyle choices. But life has its own twists and turns and shit happens. The protagonist makes decisions in good faith (e.g. having kids not knowing that it would end in divorce) and simply does the best she could. Until one can claim to walk in her shoes, one has no right to judge. How can we judge a single mum whose choices were either (1) move to the city with her kids in unaffordable cramped housing vs (2) working in the suburb in jobs that barely make ends meet? Or perhaps, the only other option is to move away from Paris altogether and risk the kids not seeing their father. Still, the protagonist is not without flaws – the film shows that under desperate conditions, a decent human being may resort to shady behaviours (as when her newly recruit co-worker was fired due to her negligence).
- Terrific film about so many women today, and not all of them on their own, as they try and do two jobs and sometime struggle to obtain Divorce maintenance as well. Disagree with the points made on the second page by the Reviewer; with her work ethic and commitments who has any concerns for the motives of the striking transport workers! Also she was not unaware of the stresses placed on both her children and the elderly lady looking after them. It was the transport strike that tipped her situation into near impossibility, not her justified level of ambition.
- Really enjoyed this – it kept my interest all the way through and I’m sure it was a situation that lots of people can relate to!
- Fantastically tense and gripping portrayal of a single mums lot and how external forces affected her.
- Exciting, contemporary, we’ll directed and superb lead actor.
- Female gaze! Totally engrossing and relatable – mis-described as a thriller – a typical working week for lots of women.
- Scarily real, I can imagine a lot of women’s similar experiences, juggling home, work and children.
- Excellent film-making, clever use of techniques from other genres but ultimately the narrative got nowhere.
- You have a category for ‘very poor’. I think you should have one for ‘very good’, which is how I rated this film. It lived up to its reviews. Never boring, totally believable – including the optimistic ending. My first Bacon experience. Thank you. (Older female – no kids.)
- An absorbing relentless rush of a film. A wonderful central performance and an authentic feel of Paris and its citizens and the hotel workers. Thank goodness it ended on a happy note.
- Exhausting and troubling, but gripping and thought-provoking. Just what we come to CFS for!
- I was totally engrossed and forgot I was watching a film. I love that feeling of sinking into another world which felt very believable. Beautifully filmed and perfectly paced. Sometimes the wobbly camera angles are slightly sea sick making but apart from that it was brilliant.
- A woman struggling to bring up two small children on her own and holding down a full time job is sadly an all too familiar story. I admired her resourcefulness and it did have a happy ending but I did find it terribly dreary and painful to watch.
- The leading actress was excellent but the story line was very predictable. The music used particularly at the start of the film intended to ratchet up the feeling of tension and it was not a comfortable experience. The Ken Loach film “Sorry I missed you” covered the fictional events of a whole family in stress from work commitments and I feel this was a better film.
- I’m still not sure if I liked it or not!! Would have I enjoyed it if it was set in London and in English? The up-beat ending seemed out of place – she should have been offered a job in the supermarket.
- Billed as ‘action’, ‘edge-of-your-seat’, but it definitely wasn’t! Disappointing from that aspect, but otherwise it was an okay drama. Well acted and convincing script and performances, but no real plot, direction, or substance behind it. Felt like a missed opportunity, could’ve done more with the concept. Ended very abruptly. Definitely much better social dramas/commentaries out there, but watchable at least.