Marianne Winckler (Juliette Binoche), a successful writer, goes undercover as a contract cleaner in Caen in northern France to research her next book, an exposé of France’s employment crisis, the gig economy, and the trials of the minimum wage treadmill. Working to a gruelling schedule on ferries crossing between Ouistreham and Portsmouth, Marianne meets Christèle (Hélène Lambert), a feisty single mother with whom she bonds; as their friendship grows however, Marianne is forced into a dilemma over the nature of her actions, and how she has built a friendship on duplicitous foundations. Emmanuel Carrère’s adaptation of Florence Aubenas’s non-fiction bestseller Le Quai de Ouistreham (The Night Cleaner) is a tough social realist drama, boasting another towering performance from Binoche.

Notes by David O’Mahony

IFI FRENCH FILM CLUB: Tickets for the 18.10 screening on Monday 30^th will cost €10.00 for IFI and Alliance Francaise members.