Ignore the reviews here which talk about this movie being boring or assuming that the director imposes their style on it just to be fashionable.
This movie is just excellent. It's like watching a short period in this woman's life -- and, we discover, a period that is likely similar to all the other periods of her life -- watching it with a microscope. There's a scene about a minute and a half long of her washing her nylons from that day in the sink. Look at the details: in the sink; a little bit of soap; rubbing; letting the water out and then running more water to get the soap out; squeezing them as dry as she can make them. A good movie is about highly specific things like this, and doesn't just pass over daily life, especially when the whole point of the movie is the relentlessness of the repetition and loneliness in her life.
Everyone's acting is spot on. This does in fact _look like_ a documentary as the various different characters come to her desk with various issues about ID cards. One woman matter of factly annulling her father's card. One young business guy on his cellphone the whole time and getting angry at her. And so on. Just perfect, perfect pictures.
It's also a telling fact that she works in an ID office, and her own identity is lost to her.
I judge a movie by whether there are any false notes in it, that is, places in it where I can see the hand of the director, or whether I can see the actor _acting_. It never happens in this movie.
And just wait for the ending ...
This movie is just excellent. It's like watching a short period in this woman's life -- and, we discover, a period that is likely similar to all the other periods of her life -- watching it with a microscope. There's a scene about a minute and a half long of her washing her nylons from that day in the sink. Look at the details: in the sink; a little bit of soap; rubbing; letting the water out and then running more water to get the soap out; squeezing them as dry as she can make them. A good movie is about highly specific things like this, and doesn't just pass over daily life, especially when the whole point of the movie is the relentlessness of the repetition and loneliness in her life.
Everyone's acting is spot on. This does in fact _look like_ a documentary as the various different characters come to her desk with various issues about ID cards. One woman matter of factly annulling her father's card. One young business guy on his cellphone the whole time and getting angry at her. And so on. Just perfect, perfect pictures.
It's also a telling fact that she works in an ID office, and her own identity is lost to her.
I judge a movie by whether there are any false notes in it, that is, places in it where I can see the hand of the director, or whether I can see the actor _acting_. It never happens in this movie.
And just wait for the ending ...