‘At Work’ review: A French writer joins the gig economy in Valérie Donzelli’s muted drama

Dir: Valérie Donzelli. France. 2025. 92mins

A successful photographer hangs up his camera to become a novelist in At Work, a sombre drama that measures the amount of sacrifice some will put themselves through in order to achieve their dreams. Based on Franck Courtès’ book A Pied D’oeuvre (also the French title for the film), which chronicled the author’s own career change, French director Valérie Donzelli’s seventh feature is a modest, occasionally lovely story about this struggling writer who starts working menial jobs. Bastien Bouillon gives an appealingly muted performance, but the film’s principal takeaways about the pain of poverty feel too superficially explored.

Donzelli cannot fully escape a degree of condescension

Donzelli (Declaration Of War, Just The Two Of Us) has been a regular presence at Cannes, but At Work will be her first film in competition at Venice. Rising star Bouillon, who received the 2023 Cesar for Most Promising Actor, is joined by Andre Marcon and Virginie Ledoyen in this sympathetic true-life tale that will be distributed in Italy through Teodora, with Diaphana handling the French release.

Paul (Bouillon) made a lucrative living as a photographer, but he has abandoned the profession to follow his true calling: writing. Sadly, his first few autobiographical novels, which received good reviews, failed to sell, and now that Paul has burned through his savings, he must move out of his posh Paris apartment. With his children and ex-wife (Donzelli) leaving him to settle in Montreal, Paul signs up for an odd-job website in which he works handyman and chauffeuring gigs for meagre wages.

The screenplay, written by Donzelli and frequent collaborator Gilles Marchand, gives us a protagonist in a downward spiral, with Bouillon occasionally narrating his character’s journey through voiceover. (Some of his dialogue is taken straight from Courtès’ book.) Bouillon plays Paul as a melancholy, humbled man who, at 42, has to help out on home demolitions, pick people up from the airport and disassemble furniture. Paul accepts these mindless, temporary jobs so he has time to focus on writing but, after his editor Alice (Ledoyen) rejects his new novel, he reaches a crossroads.

Intriguingly, At Work invites the audience to question Paul’s single-minded dedication to his writing — just as some of the film’s other characters do. His practical father (Marcon) worries that he will end up homeless — why not just go back to photography? Meanwhile, Paul’s former colleague Pierre (Adrien Barazzone) is shocked to see him chauffeuring, wondering why he doesn’t do something more remunerative, like teach.

These are fair points, but Donzelli and her star teasingly leave them unanswered, suggesting that Paul has his own reasons for pursuing these jobs that are often physically demanding. Crossing paths with people from different walks of life and economic backgrounds — including a bittersweet sexual encounter with a complete stranger — Paul claims that he wants to make something meaningful out of these gigs, although initially he does not know what that might entail.

Decorated with Jean-Michel Bernard’s delicate piano score, the picture offers a despairing view of the gig economy. Paul’s existence as a lowly day-labourer is new for someone from a fairly comfortable background. During a frustrating dinner with his father and sister (Marion Lecrivain), who accuses him of not “really” being poor, Paul bluntly informs her that there are 11 million poor in France. In the midst of one voiceover, Paul explains how complicated poverty is, requiring those in its clutches to constantly second-guess every decision to ensure it’s the least-expensive option. He chose this life for its perceived freedom, but he begins to see the limitations of such so-called independence.

Unfortunately, despite the compassion Donzelli lends the material, this look at a floundering writer who eventually discovers his creative breakthrough cannot fully escape a degree of condescension. At Work wisely illustrates how these jobbing sites force the impoverished to lowball each other so that they can secure the “winning” bid, leaving lower-income workers trapped in a neverending cycle of poverty. But Donzelli’s observations on the working poor don’t dig deep enough, resulting in an overly polished glimpse at the struggles of making ends meet.