Full Time - Al cento per cento

What a movie. Well directed; well acted; it never stops; and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Any working parent will get this film and any single working parent will relate to the decisions and life choices this incredibly hard working mum has to make each day and each minute.

If anyone says Hollywood does thrillers and dramas, come and watch a story without car chases, without explosions, just the drama and emotion of real life.

I had an overwhelming feeling of watching a Ken Loach film with subtitles, but better photographed and with more interesting music. A hard-working single mother is faced with an unrelenting series of dramas and setbacks. Unlike Ken Loach nobody has to die to wrap up the story.

In 1973, you had a French comedy called ELLE COURT ELLE COURT LA BANLIEUE, speaking of the hectic daily life of a suburban woman going to work every day, using public transportation, the kind of scheme in which millions of people could recognize themselves in. This one is not really a comedy, because it may be disturbing to watch, when you realize the hell this poor woman, mother of two, has to fight like a dog to survive, between a stressful job - she works in a Parisian palace, as a sort of supervisor - public transportation strike hell - so typical of France, the STRIKE KINGDOM in the world, financial problems, unbearable kids, problems to take care fo them when she works, a new job...You suffer for her, you feel dizzy for her, you may watch yourself in a mirror viewing this so realistic story. Maybe it's too much, I mean "too many" problems occur to this poor woman. It can't be possible that so many cataclysms happen on this casualty of modern world. I was surprised by the way she got rid off the big shipment from the van. Very ingenious, this is the kind of scene you may see in a crime film, about hoodlums pulling a heist. A jewel of a film, a mirror of the modern world, especially in France, my homeland, where a transportation bus line, train or subway may be stopped for hours just when a passenger feels sick, faints, or pukes. France where chaos, mess, jam everywhere is written in the Constitution. And I am in the best position to say this. France....

Two years after this film was released, it is more relevant than ever. Increased prices for food, heating, petrol and public services have taken off in Europe over the past year. Many feel enormous pressure. Especially those in low-wage jobs, like the main character in this poignant social drama that unfolds in Paris. Rarely have I seen a film that gets the message across to such an extent. Social drama yes, but the pace of the lead actor almost takes your breath away. Time is of the essence here. And to make both the money last, in a world where being poor makes them incredibly vulnerable and with very little to go on before the disaster is a fact. If so, this film is a wake-up call. Because it gives an insight into how many people live now. Gripping and topical film that I highly recommend. Thank you and praise that films of this format are still being made. Eye-opening film.

There are days when you must wonder what the hell, as you're caught in one almighty, intense swell, fighting currents that don't ebb, trapped by an all-consuming web, in a battered, beaten, broken, burnt out shell.

It's a top drawer performance from Laure Calamy as the divorced mother of two Julie Roy, desperately trying to make ends meet and juggle a multitude of balls, while making the long commute to and from Paris working as a chambermaid. An opportunity to recover a career that she sacrificed for children is not helped on a day when strikes hit the transport system and her world becomes even more gridlocked, while an unsympathetic employer is not amused by her time keeping (amongst other things). You're left wondering how many women find themselves in the same or similar position and struggle to keep their heads above water.