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Time Out 2001 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Laurent Cantet
PG-13, 132 min. (sensuality, language) |
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Starring: Aurelian Recoing, Karin Viard, Serge Livrozet, Jean-Pierre Mangeot, Monique Mangeot, Nicolas Kalsch, Marie Cantet, Felix Cantet
Producer: Caroline Benjo
Screenplay: Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo
Cinematography: Pierre Milon
Distributor: ThinkFilm Inc.
Released: 3.29.02 (Wide)
(In French with subtitles) |
Rating:
 (out of ) |
Laurent Cantet, who quickly is becoming one of Europe's better directors, fashions Time Out with a sense of inevitability,
in which the protagonist is spiraling toward certain emotional and psychological breakdown. Cantet's first film, Human Resources,
which dealt with a recent college graduate given the task of firing his own father at a factory, established him as a director
to watch. Now, with Time Out, he's cemented his position as the foremost mind on credible, introspective films set in the
workplace. It's a powerful, resonant study of a man who has lost his job and simply can't bring himself to tell his family;
instead pretending to take another job while contemplating his own self-worth and importance.
Losing a job can be a traumatic event in a person's life, and, here, Vincent (Aurelian Recoing) must cope with losing a job
he's had for many years. Although we later learn that he lost it mostly of his own doing, we sympathize with his plight.
Because he doesn't know how to inform his wife, Muriel (Karin Viard), and father (Jean-Pierre Mangeot) and mother
(Monique Mangeot), he decides to create a job for himself as an employee at the U.N. He lives near the French/Swiss
border and drives to an imaginary job each morning where he visits a company building and merely visits the various offices
and reads their brochures about the organization. Soon he needs money to continue his farce, so he convinces some
friends to invest in a scheme that is a scam to fund his new easygoing lifestyle. It's not long before he meets a man,
Jean-Michel (Serge Livrozet), who exposes his fraudulent scheme, but has pity on him and allows him to join his own
business, a lucrative smuggling operation which brings name-brand items across the border to sell on the black market.
Meanwhile, Muriel becomes suspicious of Vincent's new job and begins her own investigation. Eventually, he must face
his family with the truth.
Cantet has touched on a deeply painful level the affects of losing one's job, especially when their self-confidence and
sense of identity is closely tied to it. To be confronted with the fact that one is not considered effective enough at their
job is enough to drive some people into emotional lockdown and shame. Pride and a bruised ego can be the impetus
for the deception portrayed here by Vincent. He decides to mislead not only himself but those closest to him because
he can't deal with a feeling of insecurity. He consoles himself with long drives in the countryside, listening to music and
lost in his own thoughts, seeing the world with an indifference that threatens to sink his situation to even lower depths.
Cantet is careful to avoid exposition and crafts the film with a leisurely pace, coaxing the viewer into Vincent's world
without contrivance or manipulation.
Time Out is blessed with an effective director and intriguing cinematography. It captures a few breathtaking scenes,
including one that shows Vincent and Muriel slowly trudging through the snow to a cabin in the mountains, thereby
imparting the sense of Vincent's own seemingly polished dream world. Later we see him lose sight of Muriel in the haze
of light snowfall, which shatters the illusion of his own making - it's at this point he realizes that his plans are eventually
doomed. Cantet is clever to show his self-destructive plans in stages, from conception to failure, which causes the viewer
as much distress and embarassment as Vincent himself. And a somber musical score accompanies the downward spiral
of Vincent's psyche, making an impression that lasts long after the end credits have rolled.
Aurelian Recoing gives a moving performance as Vincent, with sad eyes and an apathy that is at times creepy. He
plays the part to near perfection, molding Vincent's worldview into his own mannerisms and speech. This is a quiet,
slow-moving film, and Recoing is able to impart thoughts without words, intentions without actions. Time Out is
highly intelligent and challenging for those viewers who like being spoonfed each plot point. Its respect for the audience
is rewarding, especially in the film's closing scene, which could be interpreted in more than one way. For this, Time
Out is a riveting character study that searches for answers along with its audience. It's hard to imagine an American
film touching this fertile territory.
© 2002 Jonathan Cornwell
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 |
 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
 | Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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