The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge

Christophe is an unemployed engineer. His flatmate Stéphane decides to film the job search as a documentary. From the moment the camera turns on, Christophe starts living his own life as someone else's project, and the longer he stays unemployed the more the documentary becomes a pressure on him. The subject is not unemployment but the ethics of turning another person's distress into material. Stéphane means well, and is arguably politically right; he simply never switches the camera off at the moments when he should. The form is mockumentary. The image is handheld, the interviews are straight to camera, the sound occasionally breaks. That choice adds a second layer: what we watch is Stéphane's edit, and therefore already partial. It is Philippe Falardeau's first feature. It was named best Canadian first feature at the Toronto film festival, took the best first feature prize at the Genies, and won the Claude Jutra Award. The international attention Falardeau would later get with Monsieur Lazhar starts here. Paul Ahmarani plays Christophe, Stéphane Demers the filmmaking flatmate, and Geneviève Néron his girlfriend. Who it is for: viewers who like the mockumentary form and dry humour aimed at corporate life. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace; the film is deliberately slow, because its subject is waiting.