At War

A car parts factory is closed although it is profitable, and eleven hundred people lose their jobs. Laurent Amédéo, the union representative, enters a months-long fight with the ministry, with the German parent company, with the press and eventually with his own colleagues. Stéphane Brizé films almost entirely in meetings, corridors and at the factory gate, keeps the camera handheld and works with non-professionals, so the texture reads as documentary. Vincent Lindon is the only professional and the difference between him and everyone else is deliberately visible. The bleakness comes not from the outcome but from showing that the struggle also wears the people down. It competed at Cannes in 2018. Who it is for: viewers who care about labour struggle and French social realism. Who it is not for: anyone who needs a hopeful ending.