HUMAN RESOURCES * * * 1/2
Director: Laurent Cantet Writers: Laurent Cantet, Gilles Marchand Cast: Jalil Lespert, Jean-Claude Vallod, Chantal Barre Not Rated, 100 minutes
Some areas of the earth are just naturally bleak. These places where color seems nonexistent and life is pretty much the boring same are a favorite setting for movies, especially for the French. A place like this is the perfect environment for which to talk for an entire picture. This seems to be Laurent Cantet's idea for a perfect production. The location of "Human Resources" is most certainly less than cheerful, as is life for the people there. The provincial town has a few dejected joys, but activity mainly centers around a factory in town. The factory is one of many that some giant corporation has in towns like these, but something radical is about to happen.
Franck (Jalil Lespert) returns from studying business in Paris to this place of doom. His father (Jean-Claude Vallod) has been working at the local factory, that puts workers under very harsh conditions, for thirty years. Franck takes an internship there in the human resources department. Here he learns the darker side of the establishment, and how poorly upper management treats employees. When Franck puts together a survey asking for the opinions of lowly personnel, it's twisted by the boss into something negative for the slaves of mechanism oppression. So Franck and a union leader must stand up for the rights of the working townspeople, while Franck himself must work out some issues with his estranged father.
Using non-professionals, Cantet has created an intelligent work of simplicity. At times it seems better suited as a play, it's that much of an actor's piece. With the obvious lack of lighting and technicals, the film even teeters into Dogme 95 territory. The camera work is quick, plain, and clean, and the script's the obvious leader here. With excellent pace, it provides room for some comfortable improvisation, and has a clear goal. Most importantly, it knows when it's about to become boring. Kudos go to director Cantet and Gilles Marchand for this great screenplay.
When the camera first sees Franck's father working away at his station, the work seems OK. He puts a small nut onto a large piece of metal that gets welded on a revolving machine. It was only until I realized he had been performing this task for the last thirty years did any of the movie sink in. This measly operation, and small others, were all a large group of people had to do for their entire lives. They have no fun family get-togethers, and no wild drinking parties. The very existence of life rises and falls with the machine. Life in the offices is no better. Nearly every wall in the building is glass to eliminate privacy and increase productivity. Someone is always watching.
When right to work gets taken away, there is nothing to fill the void. Mistreatment and corruption squandered; the message of "Human Resources" is loud and clear. People are aimless and without purpose when they have no work, and when unions get bypassed, there is nowhere to turn. Continuing in a universal cycle, this happens all over the world. Only when that realization comes to pass does this wonderful, important, and depressing film blare all with an unflinching certainty. Not one moment seems fake or unreal. This is an actual family with real problems, and there are no actors. That is truly the mark of quality.
A film review by Frankie Paiva. Copyright 2000 Frankie Paiva.
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