Time Out

Colour, 35mm
France, 2001, 133 min
Section: Horizons - Awarded Films

About the film

It seems that Vincent is doing quite well: with work – one meeting follows another; and at home – he’s got three kids and a loving wife, Muriel, with whom he shares every boring business detail... But unfortunately Vincent’s professional life is pure fiction, a pack of lies. He hasn’t been able to tell either family or friends that he’s lost his job. Indeed, he feels pressured into inventing a new, even more prestigious one. But soon he is unable to maintain the lifestyle his family once enjoyed, and thus he begins to deceive and cheat his acquaintances (and even his parents) out of money. Vincent’s simple wish to ‘call time out’ from his claustrophobic small-town professional life gradually changes into a suffocating trap heaped with lies. Director Laurent Cantet observed about his film: “From writing through editing the objective was to create the double subjectivity which makes Vincent the sincerest of liars, an actor of his own life. Paradoxically, making up an ideal life ends up being a full-time job for him.” The film was awarded Lion of the Year at the Venice IFF 2001.

About the director

Laurent Cantet (b. 961, Melle, Germany) graduated from Paris’ IDHEC film school in 1996. He has made two acclaimed shorts: Tous a la manif (1993; winner of the Prix Jean Vigo) and Jeux de plage (1995). In 1997 he shot Les Sanguinaires for the “2000 Seen By” television series. His feature film debut came in 1999 with Human Resources (Ressources humaines), shown at Karlovy Vary in 2000 and winner of several awards including Best Director at San Sebastian and a César for Best Film. Time Out, awarded Lion of the Year at last year’s Venice IFF, is his second feature.