Eric Graval

I can’t believe it’s taken this long for someone to make a movie about single-motherhood as a relentless heart-in-your-throat ticking-clock thriller. I’m not a mom of any stripe, but I have friends who are single moms, and I’ve seen how absolutely precarious it is, every day, balancing work and child care and a woman’s own sanity.

Full Time (À Plein Temps) is a movie that is so well-structured and so naturally acted it completely absorbs you. Its rapid-fire pace, especially through the first hour, is supported by an extremely efficient editing that trims away anything superfluous and leaves a lean, quick and meaningful film where every scene matters, even the flash of maids whipping apron ties closed. Look away and you miss something.