Cannes: Marion Cotillard Shines In Another Hard-Hitting Drama, 'Two Days, One Night'

Two Days, One Night (or 'Deux Jours, Une Nuit') has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and has emerged as one of the most praised films of the competition so far. Starring Marion Cotillard in the lead role, the Dardenne brothers film centres on Sandra, a woman who returns to work at a solar panel factory after a breakdown to discover that her job has been replaced by $1000 bonuses given to the other workers.

Marion Cotillard's New Film, 'Deux Jours, Une Nuit' Has Premiered At Cannes.

Desperate, the wife and mother urges her staff rep Jean-Marc (Olivier Gourmet) to hold a vote for the workers to decide whether they'd prefer their bonus or their colleague. With the vote set for Monday morning, Sandra has just the weekend to hunt down each of her co-workers and beg them to vote in her favour whilst she battles her returning depression symptoms.

More: Marion Cotillard struggling with Shakespeare for ‘Macbeth’ role.

"The Dardennes have made a brilliant social-realist drama with a real narrative tension which is something of a novelty in their work," praises The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw in an exultant five star review, before favourably comparing the movie's premise to Ken Loach's 2000 film, Bread and Roses.

Watch The 'Deux Jours, Une Nuit' Trailer [French Language]:

"Cotillard, who is only the second established star the Dardennes have cast (after Cecile De France in their previous "The Kid with a Bike"), disappears so fully into Sandra that she becomes inseparable from the rest of the company," says Variety's Scott Foundas.

Critics Have Adored The Dardennes' Pairing With The 'Inception' Actress.

"It is another great performance from Marion Cotillard, who does not look out of place, like a starry A-lister, in the more austere Dardenne habitat [and] shows what a marvellous technical actor she is," the critic adds, whilst describing the movie as "a typically superb social drama."

Cotillard & Fabrizio Rongione Shine As Onscreen Husband And Wife In 'Two Days, One Night.'

"Cotillard is just superb here, and the strongest contender yet for this year's Best Actress award at Cannes," says The Telegraph's Robbie Collin, adding "throughout the weekend, her depression ebbs and flows with total plausibility." "A third Palme is not out of reach," the reviewer predicts.

Two Days, One Night will be released on the 21st May in France and on the 22nd August in the UK.

More: Marion Cotillard really doesn’t want her son to be an actor.