At Work

Paul, a successful photographer in his forties, gives up his profession to become a writer. The income stops. To keep writing he takes work through apps: hauling, cleaning, assembly, gardening. Over time working in order to write turns into being unable to write because of work. Valerie Donzelli directed and wrote with Gilles Marchand, from the novel in which Franck Courtes recounted his own experience. Bastien Bouillon plays Paul, with Virginie Ledoyen and Andre Marcon in the cast. The subject is downward class movement: an educated and recognised man moving into day labour, and being unable to tell anyone. The film shows the jobs themselves in detail: how many euros each app pays, how long each takes, how people behave. It played in competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and won Best Screenplay. It opened in France on 4 February 2026. It runs ninety-two minutes and the telling is dry. Who it is for: viewers who like French drama about work and class. Who it is not for: anyone expecting deliverance; the film shows no way out.