Back to Work
Philippe Lubliner
2003 - 52 min - Couleur - France

Céline, Séverine and René, like 3,150,000 people in 2002, have signed the PARE (plan d’aide de retour à l’emploi) which requires them to seek employment actively. All three of them are long-term unemployed, secretary, sales assistant or method technician, and the Job Centre has directed them to an in-depth assessment of their skills.
For six weeks, from appointment to appointment, they will work with an instructor, in individual encounters. "Who are you ?", "What can you do ?"... At the end of this check-up they have to get on to the job market and face the requirements of the firm, the final decider. Who will be hired ? Who will be sent back for training ? Who will have to turn to temporary work ?
Thanks to the experience of these three men and women who are like us, this documentary proposes a close look at the work which consists in finding work again. Behind closed doors, face to face in an office, the dialogues and the looks exchanged between Céline, Séverine, René and their instructors, recount the confrontation of individuals at the heart of social reality, faced with the job market.