Director Eric Gravel and early contender for Best Actress, Laure Calamy, challenge the heroine to a hectic battle with the social world, in the thrilling, electric drama À Plein Temps (Full Time), presented at the 78th Biennale di Venezia.
The 78th Venice International Film Festival, organised by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera, is in full swing, after opening on September 1st with Pedro Almodóvar’s Madres Paralelas. Like every year, the festival is take place at Venice Lido, and will be live until September 11th, 2021. As part of this year’s program, we have delved into the Orizzonti Competition, where we have spotted À Plein Temps (international title: Full Time) by Eric Gravel, starring the latest Cesar Winner for Best Actress in a motion picture, Laure Calamy (for her excellent part in Caroline Vignal’s Antoinette dans les Cévennes).
The film opens to Julie (Laure Calamy) waking up to a calm morning, preparing her two young children ready to drop them off at the nanny’s house for the day. It is apparent she is a single mother, with her ex-husband nowhere to be found, ignoring her calls. The moment she leaves her house and drops her kids off, the film transitions to a hectic, thriller mimicking the anarchy in the likes of the Safdie Brothers’ films (almost too much of coincidence with the title, Good Time [it’s cliché, but it works well here]). Even down to the electric, lively score by Irène Drésel, A Plein Temps takes no time in slowing down, but upping the ante for Julie, who is down on her luck, looking for her way out for security and hope.
“Julie, the main character, lives life in the fast lane, not because she is a spy or a CIA agent but simply because she is a single mother fighting her way to a better life.”
The state of the world is not in Julie’s favor; transit strike in Paris, ex-husband ignoring calls for help, down to her last dollar, commuting hours from Paris, the question lies in why Julie is going through all this chaos. She arrives at the hotel as the lead chambermaid at a 5-star hotel where she seems most comfortable and friendly. While working, we learn that she has an interview for a research marketing management position where she has ties with her previous job, in which she is not too proud of. With all this going on, Julie keeps a straight face, doesn’t showing weakness, and does whatever she can, whether pulling tricks of her own, right or wrong, to get to the next step and stay confident. The evident goal of Julie breaking free from her part time job as a chambermaid to a full-time job, laid the stakes to provide an almost broken future to a better life for her family, but strictly on a performance level, Laure Calamy carries the film from a derivative work to a good film.
The driving force of this film is Laure Calamy, who would be a front runner for the best acting prize of the Orizzonti section. Her role in Julie, soft spoken, yet focused on her goal shows with her buggy eyes and rushed attitude. She is always on the go and handles each mishap brilliantly. The sharp and quick editing mixed with the electric score supports Julie’s chaotic nature brilliantly. Although the film can set up these convoluted scenarios, to the point where its bordering onto misery for the sake of it (nanny/children issues, low on money all the time, transit strike), it depicts a sense of shoving these social issues down your throat superficially. This is sort of forgiven, by Julie’s performance where she takes each scenario and doesn’t give up or break down in a performative/Oscar-y way, but in a stoic, empathetic attitude.
À Plein Temps is a character study on a day in the life of a single mother where everything is thrown at her all at once. These types of movies usually have a male protagonist fight through the hardships, but in À Plein Temps, Julie breaks typecast and goes all in. The conflicted ending also borders on the sappiness of 2006 The Pursuit of Happyness, but Gravel smartly does not prolong it. This genre of chaotic filmmaking has been going since 80/90s Abel Ferrara, Walter Hill, Safdie Brothers, but Eric Gravel, showed his chops with Laure Calamy giving a great performance. À Plein Temps’ depiction of Julie as a woman on the verge of losing everything, gives us a front row experience leaving us satisfied and hopeful.
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