L'employée du mois

It's hard to convey my level of disappointment (and disgust) when it comes to this perfectly dreadful movie. As one of the pictures I was most looking forward to seeing at the Gene Siskel Film Center Chicago European Union Film Festival, I walked out thoroughly appalled by what I had just watched. What should have been a screwball dark comedy with a premise loosely based on elements from the classic workplace farce "9 to 5" (1980) and the long-running hit TV sitcom The Office somehow managed to find ways to completely miss the mark from start to finish. To begin with, as a picture that's supposed to be a comedy, it simply wasn't funny, with virtually every bit failing to land. Then there was the pacing, which was far too laborious for a story that should have moved by at breakneck speed. But, perhaps most importantly, writer-director Véronique Jadin doesn't appear to have a handle on what distinguishes macabre humor from nasty, mean-spirited poor taste. I can't believe how many times during the picture I caught myself saying "There's absolutely nothing funny about that." And, even if this production were meant to be a goofy, gory tale a la movies like "Raw" (2016) or "The Columnist" ("De kuthoer") (2019), it's not nearly campy, creative or playfully over the top enough to be able to pull off that feat. What's more, the film's attempts at making statements about equal pay, toxic masculinity and sexual harassment in the workplace are far too obvious and heavy-handed, expressing sentiments that virtually anyone save for those who've spent years living in a cave should readily be able to recognize without being beaten over the head. Thankfully, the only saving grace here is the picture's mercilessly short 1:18:00 runtime, but even that feels eons longer than it actually is. I suppose the most troubling thing I find about this offering, however, is that I actually heard audience members laughing during this travesty. It made me wonder about people these days and how they could possibly see the humor in any of this. There's a big difference between a deft touch and a sledgehammer approach, even in dark comedies, but the filmmaker apparently doesn't recognize it, and that shows in her work.

Conscientious and put-upon Ines does most of the work in an office alongside the most ghastly bunch of chauvinist idiots imaginable (not quite all male). Melody, an intern working her first day, sees Ines' boss acting even more grossly than usual and intervenes in her defence, triggering a series of events which prove very unfortunate for the idiots.

Filmed in a couple of rooms on zero budget, this isn't the slickest comedy you'll ever see. In places it's quite clumsily directed, but the two women, particularly the deadpan Melody, are hilarious, and it's laugh or cheer out loud time as, one by one, the idiots get their just desserts. Most of the roles are played as caricatures, which may put some people off, but if you find it as funny as I did, you won't care. I'd have liked to see a bigger reward for Ines at the end but it's still very entertaining.

No pun intended - and I am not even sure if the person who reads this has seen the movie called Serial Lover, which is the origin of the pun I am using. If you haven't seen that, but like dark comedies (even darker than this one right here and even meaner in a sense and also probably funnier): please do yourself a favor and watch it.

Until it comes out on Blu Ray (if it is not available to stream that is), you have this movie right here though. And the main character is quite ... well you will understand her thinking and her fruststration. Hopefully you will not "approve" of her ... well let's call them methods or how she vents. For a movie it is funny of course and not politically correct at all. If you are cool with that ... you'll have fun and be entertained watching this.