TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (DEUX JOURS, UNE NUIT) Special Screenings

The world-renowned Dardenne brothers (KID WITH A BIKE, AFI FEST 2011) return to the festival with this powerful tale of collective bargaining and solidarity. Marion Cotillard gives a stunning performance as Sandra, a Belgian working mother who has one weekend to convince her co-workers to forego their much-needed bonuses so that she can keep her job. Every vote against her draws her closer to abject despair (and closer to sinking back into the dark chronic depression that forced her to take leave from work in the first place), while every worker who agrees to help gives new hope to Sandra and her family. Cotillard excels in a difficult role, which calls for Sandra to repeat the same degrading, exhausting experience – pleading for help from co-workers – while finding a new, complex situation with each person she visits. With this latest film, the Dardennes have perfected their naturalistic style, which focuses on the realities of working-class European life.