Luc Moullet's THE COMEDY OF WORK (1987) + BARRES (1984)
As part of "Luc Moullet: Hardly Working", a Mezzanine retrospective, we present Moullet's absurdist comedy set during France’s ‘80s period of economic austerity.
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Sep 20, 2025, 4:30 PM
Brain Dead Studios, 611 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA
The Comedy of Work (La comédie du travail)
directed by Luc Moullet
1987, France, 85m, DCP
Screening as part of Luc Moullet: Hardly Working, a Mezzanine retrospective.
doors: 4pm
film: 4:30pm
In this absurdist comedy set in France’s ‘80s period of economic austerity, Moullet stages a series of gags about the culture of work and welfare in France. Among these is the story of a job counselor (Sabine Haudepin) who falls in love with an "unemployed professional” and decides to seduce him by offering him a managerial position—at the expense of an overly-qualified and career-obsessed man laid-off that same day. No one is spared in this lucid ,cruel dance of failed expectations and grotesque ideologies. Moullet (who cameos as a character named “Mr. Unemployed”) employs a tone of light-hearted derision rather than somber indignation. Every frame is delightfully crafted and offers some respite, in spite of a subject that teeters on the edge of tragic. -Pauline Kraatz, Mezzanine
“A dryly comic investigation into the contradictions and indignities of modern labor, and might be Moullet’s most incisive work.” -Film at Lincoln Center
Preceded by:
Barres
1984, France, 14m
In this endlessly inventive short, Moullet portrays all the ways one can get onto the Paris Metro without paying.
Total runtime: 100m