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Ever since rightfully winning the Best Actress Oscar over front-runner Julie Christie in 2008, Marion Cotillard has continually delivered a series of strong post-Oscar performances without getting a second nomination. Her lack of another nomination was becoming questionable, how could they ignore so talented and dynamic an actress as Cotillard? Her lack of a nomination for Rust & Bone was particularly egregious.
So thank god for the Dardenne brothers and their film Two Days, One Night, a portrait of hope overcoming desperation and depression. The film is a winner, telling the story of a factory worker (Cotillard) who must beg her former co-workers for her job back. The catch is that they can either vote to have a big bonus, or they can give up that bonus and give her back her job. Knowing that she has a few votes for herself already lined up, she must go out and try to win over more of them.
Cotillard’s character has fallen hard into her depressive state, and this mission is as much about convincing them she can do it as it is about convincing herself. Resigned to popping anti-depressants and napping away most of the day, Cotillard’s Sandra is working mother and wife struggling to regain her sense of normalcy. As she continues on with her quest, gaining some ground and losing out for a variety of reasons that are no less valid than her desperate situation, a sense of urgency and emergency arises. We become deeply involved and concerned about whether Sandra is truly capable of returning to work, gaining the necessary number of votes, of being able to function once again.
As Two Days, One Night heads towards its conclusion, with a 50/50 chance of her goal happening, we also see a change in her. By performing this task, which seems so easy to someone who has never struggled with depression but it’s a herculean effort to her, Sandra begins to regain some of her hope and confidence. The final moments register a personal victory. We can see the exact moment in which her will to live, her wanting to fight again for another day is reignited. Cotillard’s face and the grace with which Dardenne’s get us there is a joyful note to end the film on. To borrow a phrase from Roberta Flack, it’s a moment that kills us softly with its song.
