Mats This could have been a great film about labour relations in a globalised world. Instead we get a much more narrow and black and white perspective. Management basically being crooks and the communist union protecting genuine workers' right. It is sad that the direction didn't have a better grasp of reality. Still the move has good moments and raises interesting questions.One thing I don't like is the director's way of using dirty tricks to get his audience on the union side. First the union woman is portrayed as an awful and disgusting person. Then the same person gets the last word after the audience have started to dislike her. Cheap trick.Still the movie is quite good but nothing extraordinary. My limit of a watchable film is 6 and a great film is 9 on the IMDb scale.

George Parker "Human Resources" tells the story of a young man who interns in the Personnel Dept. of a big French manufacturing plant where his father is a machine operator. The story is all about the tensions which arise between management and labor as the factory prepares to lay workers off and the effects on the relationship between father and son. Given its bland character representations, inconsequential story, limited production value, and annoying white subtitles (with no outline) which are impossible to read when overlaying white subject matter, there is little reason to recommend this film in spite of its favorable critical ratings. Recommended only for French speakers. (C+)

AKS-6 This was a positive surprise... I didn't have a clue what to expect when I rented Ressources Humaines, but it turned out to be a great film with fine performances from the cast (especially Jalil Lespert and Jean-Claude Vallod).First, the premise is very interesting. What happen with the family dynamics when the sons and daughters are more educated than their parents? Of course, that is only one aspect of this film's premise. Second, the scene where Franck is yelling at, and blaming, his father is absolutely heartrending. Only a stone wouldn't react to that masterful scene. Third, "entertaining" is hardly the word to describe Ressources Humaines, but I have to say that this film seemed much shorter than tired comedies like Charlie's Angels and Scary Movie.(8/10) Highly recommended.

Movie-12 HUMAN RESOURCES / (1999) ***1/2 (out of four)By Blake French: The powerful, heartbreaking new French drama "Human Resources," written by Laurent Cantet and Gilles Marchand, is so authentic the only true professional actor in the cast is Jalil Lespert, who plays Franck, the son of a workaholic. The rest of the performers were chosen from unemployment organizations in regard to the business the characters would have to play. "The title "human resources" is first of all a reaction against the cynicism of that expression," explains director Laurent Cantet in an interview. "A human being is administered the same way you would administer stocks or capital." After watching this film we understand what he means by those words. The working characters employed by a personnel division factory where Franck's dad is currently employed. He has been working there for thirty years and is happier when his son is emotionally further apart from him. Franck has defied his family heritage, went to college, and has recently returned to the French home where his parents live. He gets a job as a manager at the company in which his father works. This is where he becomes torn between business opportunities and staying loyal to his principles of fairness and morality. The people at the factory treat the workers like machines, and it is then when he understands "human resources" refers to people as variables in the production flow graphs. Director Laurent Cantet is not from a working class family, as cleared up in a press kit, so these skillful and wise foreign filmmakers decided to get ideas confirmed by those who did live that life. The parts of the factory workers are played by actual workers; the boss is a real boss; the union leader is a real union leader. The film is also shot in an authentic working factory, as if a documentary was in the creation. Cantet was absolutely correct: who better to imitate the positions and postures of a worker's body bent over a factory machine, or especially the language itself, much of which was selected the workers themselves. The factory's supervisors are cutting back, and Franck gets the privilege of listening to the suggestions that a recent questionnaire asks. The questionnaire is to help make the employers, who are drained of most consciousness on the job, feel they are important to the success of the corporation. Then, while snooping around on the boss's computer, Franck finds the questionnaire is nothing but a pretense for upcoming layoffs, that of which his father is on the list. While Franck is furious at the deceptions, his father refuses to even go on strike after learning of his fate-he is simply to used to consistence and routine, he fears change. The movie is more about the inner struggle between Franck and his father than the actual protesting by the employees or how the factory supervisors fight back. American movies are not often about factory workers, and when they are, the subject is more parody, like in "Officer Space" (1999), than class struggle. One of the best arguments this movie makes is that class struggle is still alive today, and has a high impact of various societies. There are other themes in "Human Resources": greed and power, communication between Franck and his family, the father-son association he has with his boss, finding one's place in society, and shame and regret. "Human Resources" is of the most penetrating films of the year; it offers descriptive writing and empathizing characters. Shot in a documentary style, the direction is focused and sincere, and the performances are mesmerizing. The only thing keeping it from perfection is the somewhat slow-moving script that occasionally strays idle when some of the most important events take place. Beyond that, however, "Human Resources" is a must-see if you are a fan of original, reality theme-based dramas.