That Old Dream That Moves

Alain Guiraudie's 2001 French film is set in a factory about to close. A young technician arrives to dismantle a machine that will be used elsewhere, while the few remaining workers pass their last days. The film does not build the closure as drama. The workers talk in their idle hours, watch the technician, and an unexpected tension forms among them; the narrative places desire inside the ordinariness of the workplace and never underlines it. It is among Guiraudie's early works and runs about an hour. The dialogue is measured, the humour dry and the setting almost entirely the factory. It drew notice at festival screenings and his later cinema came to be known from here. Who it's for: those who like French independent cinema and quiet narratives with queer themes. Who it's not for: viewers waiting for an event; the film is built almost entirely on waiting.