Time Out (2001)

Average rating

(60%)

Starring:	Karin Viard \| Aurelian Recoing \| Serge Livrozet \| Jean-Pierre Mangeot \| Nicolas Kalsch
Director:	Laurent Cantet
Studio:	ARTIFICIAL EYE
Run time:	129 mins
Genres:	Drama \| World Cinema
Languages:	French
Subtitles:	English
Released:	October 28, 2002

Vincent (Aurelien Recoing) spends a lot of time in his car. He sleeps in his car sometimes, parked in highway truck stops where buses full of school children pass through during the daytime, and at night stragglers lost en route stop to drink and tell their stories. Having been fired from his job over a month ago, he is a man running from the truth. Unable to admit his unemployed status to his family, he goes to great lengths to convince his wife and three young children that he spends busy days hard at work. He makes phone calls home talking of meetings and appointments, then returns home complaining of fatigue from being overworked. In fact, he drives around a lot, meanders in and out of office buildings, picks up pieces of information and pages through vague research that does not seem to be part of any cohesive goal or plan. The menacing part of it all is that the closer we get to Vincent, the more he seems to convince himself, and us, that he's telling the truth. And the resulting psychological trickery is positively creepy.
This French mystery from director Laurent Cantet (HUMAN RESOURCES) carries an eerie chill that seems inexplicable. While the story seems simple enough, Vincent's lies and the way that he manipulates people--especially his family--are expertly conveyed with cold, steady camerawork and a beguiling performance from Recoing.

Screenshots

Rating of 3 stars out of 5

Staged with meticulous care, this solemnly fascinating drama is loosely based on the case of Jean-Claude Romand, the seemingly successful businessman who wove a web of deception to prevent his family discovering he'd lost his job. Choosing not to follow the Romand case to its violent conclusion — Romand eventually murdered his family — director Laurent Cantet here re-creates the routines that occupied the man's empty days and the scams by which he sought to raise funds. However, Cantet struggles to communicate his interior life and provides little worthwhile insight into the man's psychological state. Although stage star Aurélien Recoing's performance is chillingly cheerless in isolation, it's less convincing when he's in the company of his increasingly suspicious wife, Karin Viard. It's a truly tragic scenario, but ultimately too restrained to compel.

Highest rated reviews

10 out of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4 stars
A subtle and dramatic must-see

A Customer from London, England, 11th July, 2004

A slow-moving yet gripping drama following Vincent, an early middle-aged family man, who loses his job but does not tell those close to him. As Vincent considers his life and his future, the pressure he feels exerted on him by his family and friends to lead his normal daily routine gradually takes its toll. His web of lies seems destined to end in disaster, as one wonders what will become of him throughout a series of encounters in the film. The film is very watchable, and quickly takes you in, as you empathise with Vincent, hoping that he will pull through his troubles yet driven to despair by the seeming impossibilty of it all. I recommend watching this tense drama unfold.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5 stars
The Terrified Man...

robertconnor from , 19th January, 2005

A middle-aged middle class family man has a mid-life crisis. Hardly an inspiring or original idea, yet Laurent Cantet creates a quite devastating and compelling landscape of one man's internal terror - terror at his situation and complete inability to express his feelings. Through Cantet, a combination of economic script, astonishingly sparse and subtle performances, and Pook's deeply moving musical score, take the viewer on a journey of displaced despair and futile attempts to paper over the cracks. Recoing is captivating, his face a turmoil of quiet bewilderment and pain, and he is ably matched by Viard as his increasingly unsettled partner. The penultimate scene between Recoing, Viard and their children is quite astonishing in its tension and disquiet. In the end, however, the final scene says it all. Recoing should have won every award going. Once again the French film industry shows us all how to make films.

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Most recent reviews

2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 2 stars
expectedly disappointing

Niz from , 8th October, 2008

If this film was not french , one would start by describing it as 'french style' kind of movie. Again it s about this french obscession by or i should say their admiration for the 'Mal de vivre'. If you re not french it can leave a romantic/psychoanalytically intriguing after-taste,but if you have been watching french movie regularly you start getting fed up with it. This movie cannot be more typically 'Atypical' which what makes the beauty of french cinema. The viewer easily get absorbed almost passionately by the story, the excitement increases in a linear pattern, but after 60 minutes or so the unpleasant anticipatory impression that there will be no light at the end of the tunnel starts kicking in. That also is sadly a french cinematographic signature. The ending is devoid of any imagination, almost ridicule. All along the film one gets the impression that the main character is either slowly becoming schizophrenic or suffers with a delusional disorder or he s just turning into a crook. Few times one even wonders if he s just a genius with a machiavelic plan...i will let you discover the blunt outcome by yourself...A proper almost cheesy dysthymia. Human Resources was undoubtly a much better work/creation.

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