Human Resources (2000)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This is a challenging depiction of the irreversible suppression of lower classes by upper classes, and how people belonging to the former are ill-equipped to fight in a battle they can never win. The issues of corporate morality and social justice are skilfully infused in a father-son relationship, which is itself tainted by class difference and "shame" for being in the lower classes. The irreconcilable difference between classes in both a familial and corporate context is given real flesh and bones by the highly unforgettable climax built up in the scene where the son forced his father to confront him for his "shame" felt since childhood because of the father's working class status and which extended to even after the son has advanced to a higher class. A brilliant semi-documentary on corporate morality which has also successfully injected a layer of personal morality crisis.

I thought this was played in a rather too pedestrian manner until near the end when the unspoken conflict between the father and the son exploded. In a sense this is a story more or less a century behind its time. We have the factory and the bosses, and we have the workers whose labor is exploited by those who own and control the capital. We have the union organizers who are little different from those who long ago sought a worker's paradise while employing communist tactics.But where this is different is that it depicts the conflict in a contemporary setting with the institution of the 35-hour week as the bone of contention. Jalil Lespert plays Franck, the son who is home for the summer from college in Paris to serve as a management trainee at the factory where his father (Jean-Claude Vallod) is employed. The father is a throwback to the loyal worker of the 19th century who was wedded to the machine, who adored the machine, someone who has completely accepted his status as worker/cog in the greater machine that is the factory. Even in his off hours he works cutting wood using a large buzz saw in his garage. But he wants something better for his son.The son is personable and talented. He puts together a questionnaire that allows management to see how its employees feel about the 35-hour week in order to better manipulate them. By accident he discovers that management is going to fire 12 workers, most of whom have spent their entire working lives for the company. This is the crisis point for the son.Without going into plot details, what we discover at the end is that the father despises himself because he is nothing more than a man who feeds a machine while the son reveals that he at some level hates his father because he is a factory worker, a man who had neither the ability nor the gumption to raise about his station in life and a man who is afraid to question management.Bottom line: slow and realist to the point of being mundane with professional, but uninspired direction by Laurent Cantet.(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

"Human Resources" tells the story of a young man who interns in the Personnel Dept. of a big French manufacturing plant where his father is a machine operator. The story is all about the tensions which arise between management and labor as the factory prepares to lay workers off and the effects on the relationship between father and son. Given its bland character representations, inconsequential story, limited production value, and annoying white subtitles (with no outline) which are impossible to read when overlaying white subject matter, there is little reason to recommend this film in spite of its favorable critical ratings. Recommended only for French speakers. (C+)

I am French and I am very proud when I see that such a movie can be produced in my country - It's not a movie with Gerard Depardieu, it's a movie with real situations and real people, about working in a factory, blue collar and white collar confrontation, family feud. Acting is great with only one professional actor, the rest being amateurs. I highly recommend it. It's not an easy piece. But it will you make think.