Two Days One Night UK Film Premiere

The 10th anniversary of Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House opened with the premiere screening of Two Days One Night. The 2014 French-language film was directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, and stars Marion Cotillard and Fabrizio Rongione. It recounts the story of a woman who has one weekend—hence the title —to convince her colleagues to give up their annual bonuses so that she can keep her job. The piece has already won over critics: it was chosen to feature in the main competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and has already won the Sydney Film Prize at the 2014 Sydney Film Festival.

Cotillard described preparing for her role as Sandra: “It was a process that I had experienced before on one or two other movies, where I had to create her life without having any information about it before we meet her onscreen, and I really enjoyed it. To find the authenticity—what you have and what you know—and then to let your imagination do the rest of it, as well as a month of rehearsals, helped me to get to know her and get to find her.”

Speaking on the way motherhood has changed the way she works, she said, “Before I was a mom, I would enter a new world and it was okay for me not to come back for a few months. Now I cannot do this anymore—so you need to find the right balance, and sometimes it’s not that easy.”

Ever the style icon, Cotillard went for a classic black Christian Dior gown, matched with a low ponytail and simple makeup as she graced the red carpet.