Genre: Drama/Historical
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Writer: Mo Buck
Based on the novel by Emile Zola
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Vincent Cassel, Isabelle Huppert, Mia Wasikowska, Elijah Wood, Nicholas Hoult, Jean Dujardin, Jean Reno, Gaspard Ulliel, Rade Serbedzija, Toby Jones, Gerard Depardieu, Jack Dylan Grazer
Plot :
PART I
It’s about three o’clock in the morning of Monday February 6th 1865, when Étienne Lantier (Robert Pattinson) arrives at Voreux, a mining town in France. He was fired from his old job after punching his superior, his hot temper got the better of him once again. He’s welcomed by Bonnemort (Gerard Depardieu), a veteran of Voreux, who knows every little detail about this town. A bit of a drunkard, it’s not surprising to see that he’s still awake at this hour. Bonnemort quickly tells him that there’s no place for him here as a machinist, what Étienne initially came here to do. Lantier follows Bonnemort to the miners’ camp, where the day crew wakes up to replace the night crew, nobody’s smiling and the morale is in the tank.
Not far away from there, the Maheu family, with the father, who’s just called Maheu (Vincent Cassel), his wife, La Maheude (Isabelle Huppert) and their seven children, Zacharie (Elijah Wood), Catherine (Mia Wasikowska), Jeanlin (Jack Dylan Grazer), Alzire, Henri, Lénore and Estelle, wakes up as the older children and the parents have to go to work at the mine. They live in a small apartment, it should normally house a family of three, maybe four, but the Maheu are nine. This is the way their lives as been since they were born. The only glimpse of happiness Maheu and La Maheude have in their lives is their children, their daily routine is far from jolly, but living with all their children keeps them up and running. Maheu can’t count how many times he thought of ending his life, only to back down, thinking about his kids.
Étienne and Bonnemort go to the mine, where Bonnemort, the local guide, assigns him his new work. He’s been hired by the mining company. Bonnemort leaves him with the Maheu family and the family friend, Chaval (Nicholas Hoult). In what seems to be an eternity, they go down to mine to their workplace, a dark, poorly-lit corner of the mine. While everybody seems to getting along well with Étienne, he eavesdrop a conversation between Chaval and La Maheude where Chaval expresses his disdain towards him, labeling him a stranger who’ll do nothing more to dock more money from their paycheck. Étienne works near Catherine, but with her short hair and her dirty face, he initially thinks she’s a boy, but once she washes her face and talks to him, he learns she’s a girl and he opens up to her, after she starts questioning him, while she gives him advices on how to do the job properly. Étienne develops affection for Catherine and he plans on kissing her in his day dream. Catherine brings him back to reality and as he turns to kiss her, Chaval comes from behind and kisses her first. The worst of all, she enjoys it.
The group is still working and they start to criticize the superiors, who, they think, are too strict and always hand out fines for small things. Maheu is the one who’s the most fired up about the whole thing. Everyone calms down when a superior, Dansaert (Jean Dujardin) arrives in the corner. He gives out a fine to everyone for a low quality wood frame. He says that if he didn’t notice it, nobody would and they could all die, because the mine will fall on top of them. Maheu tells him to stick it up his ass and Dansaert tells him that he’ll do it with great pleasure. Before he leaves, he announces that the bosses have decided to lower everyone’s salary. A fired up Maheu goes out, not being able to work anymore. Étienne tells everyone that they should do something about it.
It’s the end of their shift. Everyone go their separate way, but the Maheu stick together. Before she leaves with her mother, Catherine tells Étienne that he should at Rasseneur’s, the place where everyone talks politics. He goes over there and makes head turns with his big ideas and because he already knows Pluchart (Toby Jones), the local worker’s union spokeperson, who’s at Rasseneur’s, sitting in a corner, but not saying a word.
PART II
Mr. Hennebeau (Jean Reno), one of the owners of the mine, lives a posh, comfortable life with his family in a huge house just across the streets from the Maheu. He’s currently talking with his cousin, Deneulin (Gaspard Ulliel), who, besides being much younger, has a totally different approach for running his mine than his cousin’s. Deneulin likes to modernize his installations and to give better conditions to his workers, something Hennebeau doesn’t agree with. Deneulin asks his cousin for money, his managerial tactics being more expensive than he thought. Hennebeau refuses and he offers Deneulin to buy his mine, so he won’t ever have to worry about money ever again.
After her shift was over, La Maheude went straight to the grocer, to buy food to provide for her family. She’s out of credits. She decides to go to the Hennebeau’s home with the intent of begging for money, as much as she hates doing that, it hurts her pride too much. Mr. Hennebeau offers her old clothes, but categorically refuses to give her money. She runs back to the grocer, begging him on her knees to give him food. He accepts on one condition. She starts to cry and she accepts. They go to the backstore and he unzips her dress.
Étienne’s still at Rasseneur’s, where he meets Souvarine (Rade Serbedzija), a Russian anarchist who’s hiding there. They discuss politics next to the attentive ear of Pluchart. Souvarine says the best way for the workers to get the advantage, would be to burn everything down to the ground. Pluchart inserts himself in the conversation and he creates a new division to the worker’s union specifically for the mine. Étienne accepts and he will be their leader. Following the agreement, Étienne leaves and walks back to the mine. On his way, he sees Chaval dragging Catherine in an alley, where she forces himself on her. With his hot-temper, Étienne suddenly has an urge to kill him, but he decides not to.
PART III
It’s a national holiday today and nobody’s working. There’s a celebration, outside, in the streets, near the mine. The oldest Maheu son, Zacharie marries his girlfriend in front of hundreds of workers, it’s almost like his extended family. After the ceremony’s over, Étienne gets up on the stage and begins a speech, in which he tries to rally workers to his cause, with the help of Pluchart and Souvarine. He talks about how much he’s had enough of the poor work conditions, the low wage and the even worse living conditions since he got here. He suggests a workers strike, but the others are weary that they won’t get paid if they don’t work. With the help of Pluchart and his friends outside the country, he will set up a fund in which the workers will get paid even if they go on strike. The workers aren’t convinced by this, but some of them decide to give it a shot. Étienne asks for a small adhesion fee after each paycheck.
Étienne gets off the stage and he comes face to face with Chaval. The thougth of puching in the face comes to his mind, but Étienne thinks it won’t help his cause if the other workers see him do this. To his surprise, Chaval agrees with him and suggests to plead for his cause with the others. They shake hands and Étienne walks a couple steps, until he bumps into Maheu, who liked his speech. Since Zacharie will be leaving the household to go live with his wife, Maheu offers Étienne to come live with them. Étienne initially refuses because he doesn’t want to be a bother, but after La Maheude insists, he accepts. While Étienne leaves the celebration to go move in with the Maheu, Chaval and Maheu start to recruit people to their cause. When Étienne enters the Maheu household, he sees Catherine, who came back early as she feels sick. Étienne stays with her and comforts her. There’s a desire on both ends, and they kiss. Chaval peaks through the house’s only window. He’s fuming.
The following day, is payday at the mine. Étienne is in line with Maheu, in front of him and Chaval, behind. It’s Maheu’s turn at the stand. He’s given way less than he’s supposed too. When he asks why, they mention that they changed the payment method, based on the number of workers they have at home and Maheu gets less money because of Étienne. Maheu doesn’t even get to work. Étienne takes his money and follows him. They go at Rasseneur’s together, where they meet with Pluchart and Souvarine. The workers will go on strike. During the day, there’s an accident at the mine. Several workers, including Jeanlin Maheu is injured. He can’t walk anymore.
When they get back at their place, Chaval leaves with Catherine to work at Deneulin’s mine, where they’ll have better conditions. He’s got a friend over there, this is why they’ll get a job. He says he doesn’t want Étienne near Catherine ever again, especially after they kissed.
PART IV
M. Hennebeau is having some friends over at his house and they’re eating a feast. The talk about this and that, until a brick breaks a window in the kitchen. He looks outside and hundreds of workers are standing in front of his house. They try to finish their meal in peace, but the workers continue to throw things in the house. Hennebeau throws his guests out by the backdoor and talks with the workers, not giving a damn about the fact that they want to start a strike. A delegation (Étienne, Maheu, Souvarine and Pluchart) enters the house and meets with Henneveau. They say they aren’t working anymore until they have guaranteed bread every night, better work conditions, higher pay and the return of the old pay system. Hennebeau doesn’t really consider their request seriously and tells them that he’ll give their demands to his associates. He won’t.
A couple of weeks later, the workers strike is all over the county. The mine workers refuse to work. The situation was way bigger than anticipated, the fund is already empty, with no way to have it back. Maheu discusses strategy with Étienne before their big meeting with the representants from the other mines. The Maheu are poorer than ever. There’s a rotation to determine who won’t eat for the day. Catherine comes back with some food. She’s still working, the strike didn’t hit their mine. Étienne sees her and they kiss. Chaval, who followed her, attacks Étienne. Maheu separates them and they leave for the meeting.
Étienne is criticize during the meeting held in the forest (they can’t hold it in town), because the others think he’s only interested in the power and he doesn’t really has the cause close to his hears. Their argument; right now, the strike is a complete failure. In an ultimate move, Étienne suggests to meet once again with Hennebeau.
The three youngest Maheu children are playing with Jeanlin, the cripple, in the streets. On his way back, Étienne meets them. They’re asking people for food and money. Jeanlin crawls away from them and Étienne follows to his hiding spot, where he goes to cry when he’s alone.
Étienne meets with Hennebeau, but once again, he denies every request from the workers. He goes back to the meeting spot, where he notices that Chaval is now of it. He talks about the advantages he has over at the other mine. The others decide that it’s time to sabotage that mine, to get back at the traitors who are still working over there, to the horror of Chaval. He decides to pledge allegiance to them in exchange that they’ll spare him in whatever they intend on doing.
PART V
Étienne is leading an expedition to Deneulin’s mine. He doesn’t trust Chaval that he’ll help them over there. With the help of Maheu and a bunch of guys. They enter the mine while nobody’s working (no night shift over there) and they cut the cables, break down the wood structure, but just enough so it will break, but not enough to show the damages. Satisfied, they leave.
Deneulin is horrified to learn that his miners are on strike, after everything he’s done to please them over the years. He meets with Chaval, their apparent leader and offers a new managerial job with a much higher salary if he’s able to change the minds of the workers. Being their leader, he announces to everyone that the decision to call a strike wasn’t good and they should all get back to work. They find it a little bit weird, but nobody raises their doubts.
They all go back inside the mine. Chaval, with Catherine starts working. Suddenly, an explosion is heard. It’s the miners from Hennebeau’s mine. They’re destroying the mine. The only thing is, they didn’t know people would be in it. With all the chaos, Deneulin comes out. He’s horrified to learn that his installations are destroyed. He refuses to let people go down to find survivors. A group of minors from Hennebeau’s farm, led by Maheu arrive. They go down to rescue the “traitors” and separate them from the group. They set the whole place on fire. Chaval, Catherine and Deneulin are kept alive on Étienne’s request. Chaval and Deneulin are afraid they’ll die soon.
The group of miners are going from mines to mines, destroying everything in sight. They visit la Madelaine, la Victoire, Feutry-Cantel and many other mines and destroy them all. They end their rally in front of Hennebeau’s house. The Hennebeau family was playing outside and they hide in the barn, surprised by the size of the movement. They start destroying the house, breaking the windows, slamming the doors. A group of women go to the grocer to get food. They steal all the reserves and while he was trying to escape, the grocer is killed. The women celebrate by cutting his genitals. La Maheude is vivid. She’ll never have to give herself to him to eat. The men destroy the riches’ streetcars. The army arrives and gets everything under control.
PART VI
One month later, the army is still around, keeping the miners, still on strike, under control. Étienne, unable to face the anger of the workers who followed him but ended up with nothing and the soldiers who want to arrest him, hides with Jeanlin in their hiding spot, a hole in the ground, where a company used to mine. One night, Jeanlin convinces that the soldiers probably think Étienne left town, so Étienne leaves in the middle of the night and he starts talking to a soldier who doesn’t recognize him who describes the current situation to Étienne.
Life in the Maheu household is worse than ever. They barely eat and the morale is very low. One of the kids, Alzire, died a couple of hours ago and they can’t get him out until a doctor comes in and he’s not in a hurry. Maheu, who lost his job at the mine, drinks himself to death, to the desolation of his wife. The doctor comes in and declares Alzire dead. Even though he was dead, the news hits the family like a train. They suddenly realise the desperate situation they’re in.
The following day, Étienne goes at Rasseneur’s to assure everyone that he’s still alive and well. Dansaert, the old supervisor is there with Catherine and Chaval. They announce that work will restart tomorrow at Hennebeau’s mine with Belgian workers. Étienne jumps on Chaval and they fight. He has had it with Chaval always standing against him. Étienne dominates the fight, but lets Chaval live on Catherine’s insistence. Étienne offers one last time to Catherine to come leave with her family again, but she refuses.
The Belgian worker have arrived. A badly beaten Chaval and Dansaert lead them to the mine. They’re able to enter with a military escort. The old workers are still there to shout insults at them. The tension is flying high. The old workers are putting a lot of pressure on the soldiers. You can feel that they are desperate, they have nothing left in their lives, except… their lives. They start pushing soldies down the mine and the rest of them shoot on the workers. The first worker to die under the soldiers’ fire is Maheu. At the end of the melee, it’s desolation for the workers, 25 badly injured and 14 dead.
PART VII
That was the final blow on the strike. Everyone turned on Étienne and are starting to work again. Hennebeau showed compassion and promised better work conditions, but everyone knows it’s only utopic. After Maheu died, Catherine went back to live with her family to support her mother. She’s categoric, no one in this household will ever work for Hennebeau again. Étienne gets out and as he walks in the streets, several workers start to throw bricks at him. He runs into the woods, where he was supposed to meet with Souvarine. The Russian tells him that he’s leaving tomorrow. They share a goodbye hug and Souvarine wishes him luck for what’s next.
The following day, Souvarine goes to the mine and like only Souvarine can do, he sabotages the mine with the intention of destroying it. He leaves the scene, never to be seen again. In the middle of the night, Catherine wakes up Étienne. She says that they’ll go to work to support the family. They meet Chaval on their way. They’re assigned to his unit. They go down, but the mine is in a bad shape. There’s water leaks everywhere. While they’re working, several other workers leave on their superior’s request, but Chaval is categoric, he doesn’t want them to leave.
All of a sudden, Chaval, Étienne and Catherine are the only workers still in tne mine. Dansaert thinks he evacuated everyone and they close the mine for an indefinite period. The three trapped workers scream at the top of their lungs, but nobody can hear them. Étienne turns to Chaval and they fight again, but this time, Étienne doesn’t stop when Catherine tells him to. All the rage he accumulated towards Chaval is finally let loose. He stops when Chaval stopped breathing. He’s dead. They know have water at their knees. Catherine and Étienne drag Chaval’s body to another spot, where there’s less water. Étienne turns to Catherine and in an instant of total desire they start to make love, with Chaval’s body near them. Their desire finally comes to fruition, until the mine falls on top of them, instantly killing them.
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