The Measure Of A Man

Life for Thierry (Vincent Lindon), a fifty-something machinist, seems to get tougher and tougher since he was laid off from his job as a result of the latest economic downtown. The economic situation is devastating the provincial French town where with his family.

In the months since he has been unemployed he has done all the right things to find work, but to no avail. In the opening scenes we see him very politely telling a Employment Counselor that the extensive crane-operating training course he has just been "encouraged" to take was a complete waste of time, as no one will give a job with his total lack of experience. It is something that the official is well aware of, but Thierry's limited welfare benefits are based on him being seen to be active in his search for work, and this is one such way to do just this.

His wife is silently supportive, but they have a teenage child with special needs and the new school that he is about to transfer to is expensive; their welfare checks will not cover the fees. There is an uncomfortable scene in which Thierry tries to sell the family's vacation trailer home and is bullied into drastically lowering the price by a couple who scent that he is desperate for funds. If that is not bad enough, he also has to suffer the indignity of being patronized by a young yuppy bank manager who suggests that Thierry raise some funds by selling the family home and buying life insurance, as he isn't getting any younger.

Out of the blue, he lands a job work as a security man in a large supermarket on what is euphemistically called "loss prevention." He is under great pressure by his bosses, who are looking to cut costs, to watch not just the shoppers but also his co-workers for any attempts, no matter how minor, at stealing from the store. As a life-long committed union man, Thierry finds spying on his colleagues particularly difficult as, like him, they are barely making a living wage.

Each of the sad, small incidents of pilfering that he has to get involved in eat away at his conscience. There is an elderly man caught stealing meat who would be normally be set free if he agreed to pay up, but he has no money. One cashier is caught hoarding discount coupons; another is scanning her own loyalty card to get points from customers' purchases. They are fired on the spot, even though the former has just been honored with a party for her long service to the store.

It's a simple, sad story that politicizes the effects of economic slumps that have been created by large corporations. The brunt of the effects are borne by the workers, who are just helpless cogs in the wheel. In Thierry's case, the film underscores the immorality of trying to make a good old-fashioned Socialist abandon his long-held principles and become part of a system that contributes to destroying people's lives. Eventually, he will resist in order to hold on to both his beliefs and his dignity.

Veteran actor Linden is pitch-perfect as the world-weary and laconic Thierry, and his performance won him the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie also reunites him with writer/director St�phane Briz�, with whom he made "Mademoiselle Chambon" in 2009. This very modest film moves at the gentlest of paces, which may test some people's patience, but is well worth the journey by the end.