Laurent Cantet's HUMAN RESOURCES tells the deeply personal story of a father-son relationship that is tested when their opposing attitudes toward work and life collide head on. Frank (Jalil Lespert) is a business school student who has returned from France for a summer internship at a... [More]

Laurent Cantet's HUMAN RESOURCES tells the deeply personal story of a father-son relationship that is tested when their opposing attitudes toward work and life collide head on. Frank (Jalil Lespert) is a business school student who has returned from France for a summer internship at a factory in his hometown. It just so happens that his father, Jean-Claude (Jean-Claude Vallod), is an employee of the factory, where he has worked for thirty years. At first, Frank's energy impresses the bosses and makes his father proud. He orchestrates a referendum with the hopes that this will ease some of the tensions between the factory executives and the union leader, Mrs. Arnoux (Danielle Melador). But when he discovers that the executives were using this information in order to bypass negotiations with the union, jeopardizing his father's job, Frank is left feeling stunned and betrayed. Upon seeing that his father is going to accept this news passively, he helps the union boycott, sparking a clash between father and son that threatens to ruin their relationship forever. Cantet's usage of non-professional actors gives HUMAN RESOURCES a documentary-like feel, adding poignancy to the film's universal story. [Less]