The Measure of a Man – Film Review by Frank L

Directed by Stéphane Brizé
Writers: Stéphane Brizé (screenplay), Olivier Gorce (screenplay)
Stars: Vincent Lindon, Karine de Mirbeck, Matthieu Schaller

Brizé directed and co-wrote this piece which begins with the social consequences of a fifty-one year old man Thierry Taugourdeau (Vincent Lindon) being made redundant along with 700 others when his factory is closed down. Brizé details the inappropriate re-training programme which Thierry must undergo, the patronising coaching of how to behave at an interview which Thierry has to endure and the smugness of the individuals who are providing the so-called retraining. All of this takes place against the constant slow but steady diminution of Thierry’s savings. In order to keep financially afloat himself, along with his wife (Karine de Mirbeck) and their severely physically disabled but mentally able son (Matthieu Schaller), he attempts to sell their mobile home. It is excruciating to observe the negotiations of the price knowing that he is under such financial pressure. Having lost his job through redundancy, everything around him is a struggle and of course his age is a problem.

However a job as a security officer in a vast supermarkets emerges. His job is to detect on a vast CCTV security system shoplifters and others including employees cheating the company. Painful confrontations between those “caught” and the supermarket’s enforcers take place in a small claustrophobic room with Thierry watching. Those caught are little people; their plight is pathetic. His own situation is horribly close to those who are caught which makes each of these confrontations seem unfair, embarrassing and awkward.

Vincent Lindon, as Thierry, is understated and for the most part calm as he tries to provide for his family in the first part of the film but exudes a certain deep sense of discomfort with his new job in the supermarket. Other than the three named all the other actors play roles similar to that which they occupy in real life. Brizé brings them all together into a well constructed drama which gradually changes into a morality play. He does so seamlessly. Lindon is convincing as a worker as he is entirely assimilated with his co-workers, especially in the supermarket world. A film worth seeing not only for Lindon’s superb performance but for the message being told by Brizé.