The Measure of a Man

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Claudio C @Claudio666 Nov 14, 2025 La loi du marché / The Measure of a Man (2015) The Life of a Middle-Aged Worker Unemployed (12,063 – 14 Nov 2025 – by Claudio Carvalho) Thierry Taugourdeau (Vincent Lindon) is an unemployed middle-aged worker with low professional qualifications. He is a family man, married with a disabled son, looking for a job. Along his journey of twenty months, he is humiliated in interviews; he tries to sell his house to raise some money to support his family, but the buyer tries to explore him by reducing the price. He finally finds a job as security guard of a supermarket and has to face sad situations. "La loi du marché", a.k.a. "The Measure of a Man" (2015), is a film with a simple story of the life of a middle-aged worker unemployed. The plot does not have anything special, but the performances make the movie extremely realistic. Vincent Lindon’s character, Thierry, is impressively calm and passive despite his financial situation since he knows the importance of finding a job to support his family. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "O Valor de um Homem" ("The Value of a Man") My Blog: https://maniacosporfilme.wordpress.com/ See more Nawt W @RT94004908 Dec 8, 2022 Ironically, it takes too long for the movie to give Vincent Lindon a job, making the first half of the movie a domestic montage that perpetually drives home a single point: unqualified people do not get priority on the job market. I've seen it done miles better in "Mondays in the Sun," without resorting to static, 5-minute-long dialogue scenes. The subsequent job sure ends up being the most thoughtful part of the movie, as Thierry tries to balance shreds of his integrity with being a wage slave in a cage. Ultimately, the measure of a man is apparently not snitching on your coworkers' petty thefts because the working class needs to shoplift to survive. This is a silly observation, but what is even sillier is the director's belief that this ending is in any way a defiance of capitalism's windmill. See more Sep 22, 2018 Todos pasamos por algo similar al buscar trabajo y cuando pasan cosas raras en los trabajos. 4 stars See more Jan 7, 2018 Extremely slow and meticulous, but totally realistic. See more Fong Kok Hoong F @RT29722865 Aug 27, 2017 This Cannes-winning sociological drama gives a discerning gaze with fly-on-the-wall long takes on the adversities braved on by a stoic French unemployed everyman and his painful moral dilemma on the other side of the fence in his later employment as a supermarket security guard. See more Feb 14, 2017 A tale of the modern day job hunt. French films are the second most I watched apart from the English language films. It's mainly because of the quality of their products. They won't put big sum on some superhero film like the Hollywood, they give preference to storytelling and the characters which I love even in a slow pace narration. Anyway, you would be tired of listening to what I'm going to say that I always love French and Japanese films, mostly the drama films. This is the latest one I saw that I did not think of giving it a try after the average reception, but once I watched I realised how much underrated the film was. This is like another 'Two Days, One Night', but a bit touch of 'The Pursuit of Happiness' with the limited sentiments. There's no comparison with any other titles, except the similarity in themes. You can call it a docudrama, because it was very realistic that you won't feel like you are watching a film. Especially not for an entertainment purpose. If you are so, then stop there and try other flick. This could resemble your life, at least some way if you ever struggled to get an employment after getting released from the previous job. I am not talking about the freshers or the youngsters, but in between the jobs, mostly the middle-aged and less qualified men's perspective. The modern world belongs to the young blood. Being somewhat old and not skilled with today's technologies is a big excuse to exclude from the employment world. That leaves to get one from the smaller wages. Such film is this one which focused on the man called Thierry who was looking for any job for the last two years. His family is small with a wife and a handicapped son. Financially struggling Thierry decides to get a loan from the bank and try to sell his mobile home to meet the expenses. Finally, he ends up in a supermarket as a security guard and follows his new way of struggle against the reality of the world where crime and compassion overlap. "A shoplifter has no age or colour. Everybody is a potential shoplifter." I was desperately looking for some entertainment to relax after the tired day. I jumped on this, and initially it took time to launch into the main storyline. It begins with Thierry having conversation with his old colleagues about the options and if there is any legal solution for his old job. This is the film where pictures, as well as lines carefully watched and listened respectively to understand the intention of such film to be exist. The every word spoken in the film were not like any other films, but it was like real life dialogues between two or more people that we the audience listening them from somewhere around the corner. That's why I compared it with documentary. This is the third film for Vincent Lindon with the director and the best one. The last time I saw him was in the 'Bastards' that I did not like. Surely the best of him after 'Welcome'. He won a few best actor awards for his role in this film, including one at the 2015 Cannes. The film was all about him. He as Theirry was the soul of the film. People start to recognise the actors since they saw them in one of their best performances and now I for Vincent Lindon through this film. Obviously very slow at the beginning, but once you start to feel you know enough about Thierry, it gets more interesting. Particularly the final act was impressive. It points out how narrowly our society was built where you can't escape the disappointment if you are a sensitive person about the actions that entirely depends on the situation whether its good (empathy) or bad (crime). This film is everything. You can call it a self-discovery or truth finder, but well detailed about the modern day job hunt by an average person. Even if he gets one, does it stand up to his moral dimensions? Because some people mind what they are doing, even though getting it after a desperate attempt. Like I said I saw it in a wrong circumstance, but I did not fail to recognise fineness of it. This is one of the best drama films I have seen, especially in the recent times. If you are looking for a realistic portrayal film, this is the one. It might be an under- noticed film today, but the time will come when people look back on this decade for how the lives and society evolved, then this little precious film will impact greater which depicted exactly what's happening right now. What I meant was some films are not meant for the present, despite all the films are made for the present!!! 8/10 See more Read all reviews

The Measure of a Man

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