Each night, Julie (Call My Agent!’s Laure Calamy) dreams that she’s drowning. Water fills her ears and presses down on her chest. But when she wakes – jolted out of a bone-tired slumber by her alarm – the reality is not so different. A single mum of two children, with debts mounting and her ex-husband missing along with his alimony, she is barely keeping afloat. Her childcare options are running out; her job, as the head chambermaid at a five-star hotel, is stressful; her commute, from a Paris suburb to the centre of the city, is precision-timed. And just when she thinks there’s a chance of a new opportunity – an interview for a much better job – a strike paralyses the entire transport network.
It’s impossible to overstate just how sickeningly stressful this propulsive drama about suburban commuting manages to be. Director Eric Gravel uses every tool at his disposal, matching the nervy, lurching camera with a galloping, tumbling electronic score. And then there’s the use of sound – subliminal stressors such as the sound of pumping blood and circling helicopters are mixed in with the jangling ambient noise.
Keeping it all together (just about) is the always terrific Calamy, with a barnstorming performance. Outwardly capable and poised, she lets us glimpse the flicker of relief when her maxed-out credit card is miraculously accepted one last time; the almost imperceptible tremble in her voice as she argues with the supervisor who is trying to let her go. Watching the picture is a bit like getting your head clamped in a vice. Allow time to decompress afterward.
