You know what it feels like to get up
early and drag yourself to work on one of those beautiful days that just
shouts "Vacation" at you. Right? You¡¯ve been there, done that? If not...
be grateful.
It is a sad reality of this life that
we must work hard, often at jobs that are less than fulfilling. We watch
the clock. We stare out the window. We sit in meetings and realize how
much time is slipping down the drain, how much life is passing unlived.
Some of us are fortunate enough to pursue our passions for a living. Most
do not.
Time Out
is a movie about
work, and about the desire to be free of it. The film's main character has
had enough of the workday world. He has decided to pretend he can live
without it. But this requires that he fool the rest of the world
into thinking he's still at work. Because the world will not tolerate a
successfully work-free man.
Vincent is a liar. Worse, he is a
liar who is slowly growing braver in his deceit. He¡¯s fooling his friends,
colleagues, and family. He¡¯s got them all convinced that he¡¯s happy and
successful in his job, and that he¡¯s considering a career change. He tells
them he¡¯s being offered a job with the U.N. But the truth is, he has been
laid off. He¡¯s unemployed. And even worse... or better, depending on how
you look at it... he likes being jobless.
Vincent is growing addicted to his
secret freedom. Every day is a new adventure of spontanaeity and
discovery. It¡¯s the antithesis of a dull, bureaucratic office job. He
spends his days driving around in the French countryside alone, watching
people and taking naps in hotel parking lots. Occasionally he calls his
wife to tell her about his busy day and his meetings; then he goes for a
stroll and amuses himself spying on schoolchildren or buildings full of
oblivious office employees.
Often, Vincent is confronted or
questioned. Each time, he cleverly fills the conversation with confident
speeches and informed questions, synthesizing a convincing persona based
on his previous work experience. He seems completely serious. It is
unsettling because we know he is making it up as he goes...and he¡¯s
enjoying the risk. One morning, on a whim, he sneaks into a busy office
building and passes like a ghost, or like the angels in Wings
of Desire, right past busy employees who don¡¯t stop to wonder
who he is. He knows how to look professional, so
he fits right in. He presses his luck, going farther and farther in, to
see how far he can go before he is stopped.
Vincent¡¯s adventures give him more
and more confidence, greater and greater thrills. He takes the next step.
He starts using what he knows to manipulate people. After all, there are
bills to pay and he needs the money.
While Vincent seems almost psychotic
at times, the film¡¯s brilliant trick is to make us envy him. He seems to
have discovered a freedom, a perpetual vacation. By living a lie, he is
able to voyeuristically enjoy the city and the highway, without the stress
of a job, without real deadlines or pressures. One early scene
crystallizes the quality of his happiness¡ªhe drives along in his plush
sedan, parallel to a crowded commuter train, chuckling with smug
satisfaction as he observes the crowded masses on their way to tedious
day-jobs. The car is his bubble, his security. It gives him everything he
needs and shields him from outside trouble.
And yet, as the film goes on, Vincent
realizes that more and more he is looking at people through glass, as
though the workers of the world, the marriages, and the families are
exhibits in a bizarre zoo that he does not understand or desire to join.
He is withdrawing from human contact altogether. Cantet¡¯s film paints the
world as a cold, forbidding place. There is glass everywhere, fog, and
snow. It is as though Cantet is suggesting that we are not only insulating
ourselves as individuals, but also as a collective...busying ourselves so
that we deny our own insufficiencies.
In what will probably remain the
scariest scene of the year, Vincent takes someone close to him on a stroll
through the snow. The camera focusses on the back of his head as he
walks... and walks... and walks... We are drawn to the edge of our seats.
We know he is on the edge of doing something extreme, something dreadful.
He's getting braver and braver.
A man can only go so far living in
such denial. As Vincent slowly learns the cost of his freedom, he is drawn
dangerously near to the edge of madness. Actor Aurelien Recoing gives what
will be remembered as one of the finest performances of the year, giving
Vincent a variety of subtle twitches and false smiles that keep us on
edge. Even when he¡¯s draws from previous employment experience to
fabricate his identity, we¡¯re not sure if he every really
worked anyplace at all. He¡¯s one of cinema¡¯s
all-time great liars, and the story brings him to the inevitable
consequences.
Some moviegoers may find it
slow-going. Cantet takes his time, letting us become almost comfortable in
Vincent¡¯s presence, then shocking us with the audacity of his lies and his
willingness to deceive his loved ones. But the film is not just about one
man¡¯s journey into denial. It is also about work, about the way that
modernization drives us to tedious tasks and makes us feel unimportant.
We¡¯re left with a curious tension. We don¡¯t want Vincent to succeed in his
deception, because it is destroying his beautiful family and his
friendships. But we don¡¯t want him to confess, to shape up, or to get
another job either¡ªthe workaday world is a nightmare all its own. Which
nightmare is worse?
In this light, Vincent¡¯s marriage and
his children shine through as one of the last true things in the world. It
is the only place where real love, where real connection seems possible.
The only time in the film we see Vincent truly happy and enthusiastic is
when he watches his son in a wrestling match. That's life: meeting the
challenge head-on and taking it to the mat. In our efforts to make
ourselves safe and comfortable, how much of life's nourishing challenge
have we lost? We have built ourselves a world that is crowded and rushed,
full of lonely people laboring all day long so that they can earn enough
money to insulate themselves all the more.
Time Out is
one of the most challenging films of the year. For those willing to
consider its tough questions, it will become a rewarding
experience.
From promontoryartists.org
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