Directed by Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern
In this jet-black French comedy, Louise (Yolande Moreau) is an illiterate factory worker in a toy factory who keeps to herself and rarely engages with the other workers. However, when the factory closes without any warning Louise is invited to join a group of female workers who want to pool their meagre severance pay. After discussing some ideas on what to do with their money, the workers agree with Louise’s suggestion that they seek revenge by hiring a professional hit-man to kill the boss.
Louise has a secret past and was being blackmailed by an incredibly creepy assistant manager for her criminal record. So she volunteers to find a hit-man. Unfortunately her first choice has decided to reform his ways so she ends up hiring one of the most pathetic professional hit-men in existence, Michel (Bouli Lanners). Michel was formally Cathy and really doesn’t have it in him to kill anything, so he arranges for his terminally ill cousin to do the job for him. Unfortunately they kill the wrong boss so Louise accompanies Michel in search of the real boss.
Their road trip becomes a burlesque adventure with hilarious bungles and poignant insights into the lives of the two protagonists who don’t seem to have much chance of accomplishing their goal. When another ‘boss’ becomes a casualty it is obvious that the film is really out to get the whole capitalist system. Louise-Michel screens as part of the Perth International Arts Festival at Somerville (UWA) 18-24 January and Joondalup Pines (ECU) 25-31 January.
Lezly Herbert
