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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Human Resources

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 1 votes
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Laurent Cantet
Gilles Marchand
Directed by: Laurent Cantet
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 15, 2000
DVD: August 3, 2004
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: France / UK
Language(s): French (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not rated
Starring Jalil Lespert, Jean-Claude Vallod, Chantal Barré, and Véronique de Pandelaère
Franck (Lespert), a Parisian business school student, takes an internship in the Human Resources department at the factory where his father (Vallod) has labored for 30 years. Franck's efforts lead to the firing of many employees, including his father. (Shooting Gallery)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Heading South Time Out
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Boston Globe Jay Carr
Terrific French film about that most universal of subjects - work.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
This superbly acted, expressively filmed story offers a rare blend of compelling drama, ethical awareness, and sheer human emotion.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
When it all comes to a head, what seems ordinary blossoms into something deeply complex and emotional.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Acompelling, cant free drama about clashing class systems and challenged family relationships that's all the more engrossing for its organic, near documentary style.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This sharp, convincing, and utterly contemporary political film calls to mind some of Ken Loach's work, full of passion as well as precision.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
An extraordinarily absorbing neo-realistic tragedy.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
What makes this straightforward film so incredibly moving is that it keeps its scathing political commentary firmly rooted in everyday struggle.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Amy Taubin
Restrained, tough, and subtle enough to be as engrossing on the second viewing as it was on the first.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
What could easily have been a dry, didactic film is granted unusual power by Cantet's cast, all of whom seem to innately understand the personal nature of Cantet's subject.
Read Full Review >Film.com Sean Means
Human Resources resonates because it restores the humanity to that dehumanizing title phrase.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
The movie's dramatic climax is a father-son confrontation of stunning cruelty. Although the movie stops short of outright tragedy, it is suffused with a grief born of rifts that may never be mended.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Concerned with fathers and sons, expectations and dreams, ideals and reality, this completely engrossing film gets more involving as it goes on.
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Most tenderly, the film deciphers the true meaning of its corporate-speak title in Franck and his father's impassioned struggle to ensure each other's welfare.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The result is an undeniable and effective authenticity.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan
A fresh, striking and rewarding piece of work.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
At its best when it's hovering around the muted dysfunction between a father and a son, who never understood each other to begin with.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A valuable, heartbreaking film about the way those resources are plugged into a system, drained of their usefulness and discarded.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A rare film about the class and educational divide that can happen even within families.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Offers highly effective performances by a cast of real-life employees without previous acting experience, who also collaborated on the intriguing screenplay.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
Part of the problem may be the use of non-actors in most of the roles. They look like real people, and they are entirely believable, but none has any kind of star charisma.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Human Resources, which gets my vote for most sarcastic title of the year, isn't a stand up and cheer kind of film.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
A working-class drama that has its heart in the right place but undercuts itself by stacking the deck, letting its main character off too lightly and being overly impressed with its own profundity.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune John Petrakis
Works so well for the first 40 minutes or so, that when the bottom falls out of it, I felt more than disappointed. I felt betrayed.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
