[Movie] A each day lifetime of single working mother turns into a thriller : The DONG-A ILBO

With breathing sound of Julie (portrayed by Laure Calamy) starts French movie ‘Full Time.’ The sleep is shallow and the breathing is restless as if she is about to wake up.

Julie is a single as well as working mom. Her ex-husband has gone AWOL without paying child support. She gets calls from bank pressing to pay mortgages. Raising the misbehaving two children is entirely on Julie. After putting her nanny on the job, Julie runs to her work as if someone is chasing her to a hotel in Paris and starts her breathless day.

Then, a major strike of transportation workers pushes her barely manageable day-to-day life into a complete chaos. Despite all her efforts to go to the work on time including a car-pooling, she is repeatedly late for work thus is about to be fired. Even worse, without properly functioning public transportations, she arrives home later than usual, which upsets the nanny who threatens Julie that she would quit. Before having the children, Julie used to work as a market researcher in logistics and other areas. She gets an interview with a company in the same industry, but no one at the hotel is willing to change their shift for her. Julie is about to blow the one chance to grab her dream job.

The director Eric Gravel uses speedy scene changes and electronic sound to describe Julie’s struggling life that is evolving to almost a fearsome situation. No time to be bored with the director’s skillful scene-making, the audience can immerse themselves into Julie’s life and emphasize with her desperations.

‘Full Time,’ a winner of best director’s award at Venice Film Festival Orizzonti (New perspective), displays great directions at making an ordinary woman’s daily life as if it is a thriller movie. By watching Calamy’s delicately disciplined portrayal of Julie, who seems to be failing everyone around her but still manages to persist, the audience can put themselves into the character’s shoes. With her successful portrayal of Julie – her eyes and looks reflecting the character’s despairing attempt to take all the painfulness in herself despite her desire to just collapse and cry or get angry – Calamy won a well-deserved Best Actress Award at the same Venice Film Festival . The movie will be released on Aug. 18

Hyo-Ju Son [email protected]