Watched at Metrograph, screening introduced by comedian John Early (who is a huge proponent for this movie and was part of how it got included to Criterion Collection!)
Story of four temps Iris, Margaret, Paula, and Jane at global Credit. They do mundane office work (typing, stapling, copying, answering the phone) and mostly try to look busy, watching the clock hit 5 and rushing out of the office. Friendship forms between the four temps, with happy moments of bonding over lunch and happy hours. This starts to fracture when new permanent assistant Cleo joins and around the same time, things start to get stolen around the office. The temps get placed in the middle of the office and are watched with suspicion. Soon they start to suspect each other. Margaret believes it’s the new assistant Cleo. Paula suspects Margaret, and Iris starts to suspect the same after seeing her monkey figurine picked up during happy hour on Margaret’s desk. Everyone has their own myth to believe in beyond the temp job’s depressing reality—Paula believes she will be an actress, making up lies about going to rehearsals. Margaret wants a permanent job and dreams of getting a glowing letter of recommendation from this temp role. Jane is set to marry her boyfriend, a serial cheater who makes up for it with big bouquets and jewelry. Iris is caught in the in between, pressured to go for a sales job that her father expects, not knowing what she really wants or who she is. After attempting a walkout, Margaret ends up getting fired when she’s the only one who doesn’t show up to work. She is also blamed for the office thefts. Iris later spots Cleo stealing and after following her home, sees that Cleo lives in a huge mansion. Cleo this whole time has been an outsider to the group, devoid of any connection, shown to steal because it brings her semblance of identity.
“I once read there are two kinds of time. Mechanical and human. You could say my story began on 8:59 the day I started that job, and ended months later, when I left it. But I’d tell you it began in the past, with my old self, and ended in the future, with a new one.”
- Everyone has their stories they tell themselves to get through their days (Didion’s quote “We tell ourselves stories in order to live”)
- Corporate culture fractures community and friendship in service of power and social norms
- The loudest dissenter (in this case, Margaret) gets punished
From Unemployed Negativity’s review:
“Work frustrates community by promising to realize it, and individuality by leaving no time for it.”