Marianne the cleaner is quiet and kind, a little sparkle in her eye suggesting joy and contentment in her trivial existence. In Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010), she plays a store owner pretending to be married to a writer. The French actress is no stranger to such roles. Christele tells Marianne some people have it much worse: Sudanese refugees have to wake up before dusk and march down the road at dark the in order to avoid the police, who routinely seize their shoes and blankets.īinoche delivers a very convincing performance as a character who acts (pretends to be someone else). These people hardly bemoan their predicament. Marianne creates a strong bond with her co-workers Christele, Marilou, Justine, and even with her super-demanding manager Nadege (who works just as hard as those under her purview). She earns the minimum wage of little above €7 an hour.ĭespite the inhumane amount of work, there is a real sense joy and companionship. She has to work triple shifts, and is left with her body aching by the end of each marathon. She has no more than four minutes to clean each cabin with two beds each. And so she accepts the job from “hell”: she becomes a ferry boat passenger cabin cleaner in Ouistreham (a small port and ferry harbour serving Caen). The audacious writer wants to take her experience one step further. Marianne is taught how to react after being blanked by non-invisible people: should she smile, should she say hello again or should she simply ignore the rude gesture? Marianne is a very good actress, swiftly blending in with her new workers, making friends and possibly starting a romantic connection with a job-seeker called Cedric. She is working on a novel exploring the hardships of workers at the very bottom of the employment pyramid: the “invisible ones”. In reality, Marianne is a famous writer from Paris. Before she lands such a job, however, she has learn how to “sell” herself to her prospective employer, by describing herself as “jovial”, “enthusiastic” and “a keen team worker”. She has to start from the very bottom: cleaning toilets. Marianne (Binoche) arrives at the a job centre in the bleak and soulless town Caen claiming that she has just divorced her husband and is seeking work for the first time in 23 years.
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