Éric Gravel directs Laure Calamy, Anne Suarez and Nolan Arizmendi in this everyday French thriller where a single mum faces a national strike that disrupts her daily commute and her potentially life changing job interview over a week of unpredictable back and forth.

Can you make the connection that does not exist? Can you skip out of work undetected to make the important appointment? Can you stretch the overdraft to buy the new professional suit and the kids’ breakfasts? I came to this via John Waters. I don’t hold his Top Ten recs of the year sacrosanct. 2020’s list was headed up with Butt Boy which I’m going to go out on a limb and predict has little for me in it. Yet Full Time was an outlier. Not a film I expected to see make his cut and that piqued my interest. Why! Isn’t! The! U.K.! Making! Films! Like! This! Exciting dramas that reflect everyday life. Gifting talented actors complex lead roles and shining a light on the struggles of those of us who work for a living. This is a feature length stress headache. Anything that can go wrong does, and you aren’t always sure our hero is the innocent victim of this hellish rat race. The ending really reaches a bleak but believable break point and then the whole carousel starts up again. A new rock bottom awaits. Nerve racking from teeth to tits.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Two Days, One Night (2014)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/