Film Review: The Measure of a Man

La Loi du Marche'  "Market Law" is the French name for this film, spoken in French with English sub-titles - duration one hour and thirty-three minutes.  The word for work in French  is "travail" and occurs often in the French dialogue. In English the same word is still related to work, but precisely, it means, to toil painfully.  The English word aptly describes the attempts of the leading character in this film to find work.

The leading character is a 51 year old retrenched factory worker, played by Vincent Lindon. Thierry Taugourdeau (Lindon) has been out of work for more than a year and is struggling to keep his family and home intact on a monthly 500 euro dole cheque.  His son is disabled, and his wife, well she is his wife - and that's all -   her role is in name only.  The film traces Thierry's  negotiation of an ego bruising gauntlet to re-employment.  He is subjected to a humiliating training session, where fellow dole recipients are encouraged to disparage his performance in a mock job interview.  Then follows a demeaning Skype interview with a human resources moron, who delights in tormenting his captive, Thierry.  Given his circumstances, Thieery is powerless to respond in kind.  Thierry is a cold stoic, even with his wife and son.  His love for them is mute, visible only in  his body language .  Speech is not his strength.  His furrowed brow and downcast eyes are the only signs of his inner anguish. He is a remote and solitary individual , measured by his new employer to fit into the occupation,of a supermarket security guard.   He patrols the shop floor watching, or hovers above, watching monitors for the body language of theft, not just theft by shop -lifters but also theft by staff.  Is the hunting and trapping of shop-lifters, including his work-mates, the measure of this man?

I think it is a well tailored fit. Fifty one years old and no exertion required beyond walking, out of that unforgiving French weather, a family including a disabled boy to support, no prospects of other employment; and thieves are deserving of apprehension, surely, as they prey on other people, and in the case of work- mates, friends or at best equals.