The Measure of a Man | Vincent Lindon's recession-hit everyman strives to hang on to his humanity

By Jason Best
( What's on TV )
published

The Measure of a Man Vincent Lindon

The Measure of a Man Vincent Lindon

Filmed with understated, documentary-style realism, Stéphane Brizé's powerful French drama The Measure of a Man (La Loi du marché) is a match for Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake as a stirring portrayal of the indignities and humiliations heaped upon the poor in today’s globalist world.

Vincent Lindon won the best actor award at Cannes in 2015 for his role as the film’s everyman protagonist, an unemployed middle-aged man who is put through a series of petty bureaucratic ordeals by the powers that be before finally landing a soul-crushing job as a hypermarket security guard.

Lindon is quietly affecting as a man striving against the odds to hang on to his decency and humanity, while his non-professional co-stars (mostly cast as fictional versions of themselves) give the film its striking authenticity.

Certificate PG. Runtime 89 mins. Director Stéphane Brizé

The Measure of a Man debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on Wednesday 5 July.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlLUzvHlNlU

Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.