| Zero Fucks Given | |
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| Starring: | Adèle Exarchopoulos |
| Cinematography: | Olivier Boonjing |
| Editing: | Nicolas Rumpl |
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| Runtime: | 115 minutes |
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| Gross: | $1 million[1] |
Zero Fucks Given is a 2021 comedy-drama film directed by Emmanuel Marre and Julie Lecoustre. The film stars Adèle Exarchopoulos. It screened in the Critics' Week section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on 11 July 2021. It was released in France on 2 March 2022.
Cassandre is a 26-year-old flight attendant for a low-cost carrier based in Lanzarote. With little thought to her future and no desire to establish meaningful connections, she lives day-to-day, drifting through work, living together with the staff on call, partying in nightclubs, and having brief, mediocre encounters with strangers from dating apps. Though she is intentionally distant and aloof from most people, treating her well-meaning and inviting roommates with the same cordial distance she treats passengers, she does reveal a recent tragedy to a co-worker: her mother died in a roundabout car accident, and she subsequently left her father, sister, and family business behind in Huy to turn her back on her past and avoid facing the reality of her loss and grief.
Cassandre is highly committed to her job and tolerates her pushy, micro-managing boss, and despite her relaxed attitude toward her goals, she constantly exceeds her sales quotas and one day hopes to move to a better airline with better destinations. Eventually, Cassandre learns that her contract is expiring. Though she has no desire to be promoted or have further responsibility, the only available positions require her to train to become a cabin manager. Afterwards, her cell phone carrier's customer service department calls her after noticing that most of her data is used abroad and suggests that she upgrade to an international plan. Since Cassandre's mother owned the cell phone plan, upgrading forces her to terminate her mother's phone line in order to establish a new plan, something that briefly breaks her stoic composure as she is forced to acknowledge and be reminded of her mother's death.
While undergoing cabin manager training, Cassandre is exhorted to take the lessons seriously, and she consciously applies what she's learned to her ensuing work as a cabin manager. She subsequently experiences gradual, conscious improvements with her work ethic, her relationship with her co-workers, and her connection with her passengers. Unfortunately, this puts her at odds with her manager, who punishes her for rating her crew too highly during self-assessments during subpar sales periods (yet also blaming her when she explains unavoidable, mitigating circumstances). Later, Cassandre respects the training instruction to treat passengers with humanism and empathy, and personally purchases a drink for a passenger who is crying while leaving her country and young children for the first time to undergo a serious operation. As this goes against company policy, her manager grounds her from flights and puts her on indefinite dismissal.
Essentially laid off, Cassandre finally returns home to her father and sister, who have little regard for her line of work. She is similarly disconnected from her old friends, who question the appeal of her lifestyle when she establishes and maintains no connections with others. Her sister informs her that their father has not given up his attempts to pursue a lawsuit regarding their mother's death, even though his appeals are repeatedly denied due to the fact that the victim was speeding and therefore found at-fault. Later, she interviews for a private jet company in Dubai that an old colleague had recommended, only for the interview to become increasingly demeaning and objectifying, though Cassandre takes the discomfort in stride and does not react when the interviewer suggests that her lack of social connections is what makes her a great fit for the role.
Cassandre spends an evening bonding with her family over memories of childhood and her parents' love story. The next day, her father consents to destroying his wife's totaled car, and Cassandre visits the site of the fatal accident, which gives the family closure regarding her death. Cassandre travels to Dubai, where she watches The Dubai Fountain with other tourists under social distancing guidelines.
Zero Fucks Given was selected to be screened in the Critics' Week section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival,[2] where it had its world premiere on 11 July 2021.[3] It was released theatrically in France on 2 March 2022 by Condor and in Belgium on 16 March 2022 by Cinéart.[4] [5]
Zero Fucks Given grossed $23,951 in Italy, $17,969 in Colombia and $966,168 in France for a worldwide total of $1 million,[1] against an estimated production budget of $2.1 million.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With bleak humor, Adèle Exarchopoulos takes us on an airborne Zero Fucks Given tour as she tries to outrun grief subconsciously propelled by her desire to live."[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[7]
Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter praised Marre and Lecoustre's depiction of Cassandre's "ruthless hyper-[capitalist]" working life and commended Exarchopoulos's performance, writing, "Even when we're stuck with Cassandre in the same routine, the film remains engrossing because of how committed Exarchopoulos is to her role, putting on way too much makeup so she can resemble the perfect Wing stewardess."[8]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cannes Film Festival | 15 July 2021 | Gan Foundation Award for Distribution | Condor | [9] [10] | |
| Critics' Week Nespresso Grand Prize | Emmanuel Marre, Julie Lecoustre | ||||
| 17 July 2021 | Caméra d'Or | Emmanuel Marre, Julie Lecoustre | [11] | ||
| César Awards | 24 February 2023 | Best Actress | Adèle Exarchopoulos | [12] | |
| Lumières Award | 16 January 2023 | Best International Co-Production | Zero Fucks Given | [13] | |
| Magritte Awards | 4 March 2023 | Best Film | [14] | ||
| Best Director | Emmanuel Marre, Julie Lecoustre | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress | Mara Taquin | ||||
| Best Screenplay | Emmanuel Marre, Julie Lecoustre | ||||
| Best First Feature Film | Emmanuel Marre, Julie Lecoustre | ||||
| Best Cinematography | Olivier Boonjing | ||||
| Best Production Design | Anna Falguères | ||||
| Best Costume Design | Prunelle Rulens | ||||
| Best Editing | Nicolas Rumpl |