No, its not a football score, that (sorry Dave) was 4-nil and iced the cake on the week for Spurs fans. Taking us ‘top of the table’, in that ‘yeah, really’ kind of way. Still looks nice though. In case you haven’t seen it:

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE 2014/15
POS TEAM PLD W D L PTS
1 Tottenham 2 2 0 6
2 Chelsea 2 2 0 0 6
3 Swansea 2 2 0 0 6
4 Arsenal 2 1 1 0 4
5 Hull City

I’ve already had a 6 foot by 4 foot photograph of this commissioned by ‘photobox’ to sit in the lounge. Let the season end now.

Anyway, the 2-1 refers to the movie we saw last night. Deux jours, une nuit. Only the French could make such a film. Though oddly its Belgium. As if there’s a difference. There’s no sex or violence (ok, one little, very un-glam punch), there’s no car chases, explosions, space ships, no cars turning into giant robots nor into household appliances for that matter. Any cars that are there just stay as cars for the entire movie. Unusual, eh? Nothing gets stolen, no-one gets kidnapped, no-one taps their heels together three times and ends up in Kansas. This movie is 7 million miles from Kansas. That should have been the title but there’s no French word for Kansas.

Its a simple tale of a working woman whose job is threatened by her boss who offers her co-workers a choice to either have their hard-earned 1000 Euro bonus OR keep Sandra (for that is her) in her job. Oooooh. That’s a bit of a moral quandry. And these are not wealthy people, these are good, honest-to-goodness, working class scum for whom 1000 Euros represents not ‘a good meal in Paris’ but a year’s utility bills, or dentistry for the children, or the ability to keep up house payments.

So you get the idea: its dull. A dull and unglamourous world filled with poor people in poor housing around industrial estates in middle-Belgium. And Belgium is pretty much all ‘middle’ really.

Yet the film is gripping, emotional but never slushy, fantastically interesting and brilliantly acted. Particularly by Marion Cotillard as Sandra. In fact its fair to say that you barely notice anyone else on the screen when she’s there, so luminous is her presence. Yet there’s no Gucci, Mischoni and Prada, there’s no make-up, there’s nothing fancy at all other than take-away pizzas and scuffed shoes. This is a movie sponsored by Primark and Matalan and Ford. Even though La Cotillard wears no make-up and didn’t (so it appears) wash or even brush her hair for the entire 7 months of the filming of this movie, she is simply gorgeous. In fragile unpolished and damaged way. And there’s very few of us that can get away with such a thing.

If you see no other foreign film this week, make it 2 days 1 night. You’ll thank me for it. And if you hate it; its your problem.

Happy wet, rainy, dull bank holiday Monday

A xxxx