Employee of the month – Fantasia Review (3/5)

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH is a new Horror-Comedy from Belgium (org. title L’employée du mois). It gets bloody funny yet covers important issues. Jasmina Douieb is awesome in the lead. Screened at Fantasia 2022. Read our full Employee of the Month movie review here!

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH is a new Belgian Horror-Comedy (org. title L’employée du mois) screening at Fantasia 2022. It gets very bloody and funny. All while managing to cover important and relevant issues.

Jasmina Douieb is simply perfect as Inès. A woman who should be the permanent employee of the month due to all she does. Instead, she’s belittled and underappreciated (to put it mildly). When a new intern, Melody (Laetitia Mampaka) joins her at the office, she seems to finally realize how badly she’s treated. And she’s had enough!

Continue reading our Employee of the Month movie review below. We’re screening it at Fantasia 2022 for its Canadian premiere at the film festival.

Surprisingly bloody look at sexism

As the story evolves, we go from heartbreaking sexism in a male-dominated office, to several insane murders and the struggle to cover it up. And also, to moments of empowerment – which also leads our two main characters into even more trouble.

It has been described as a “comedic and surprisingly bloody look at sexism in office culture” and that’s a perfect description of this film.

From watching the grotesque and crude men that act like spoiled little boys to the women who can only take so much. And the women who push down other women. This isn’t solely a “men vs women in the workplace”-situation.

It’s about those in a situation of power versus those who have no power at all. Well, except for the power to leave. Or, it turns out, get rid of the people and workplace that make your life hell.

Jasmina Douieb is perfect as Inès

In the absolute and all-important lead, we see Jasmina Douieb as Inès. She’s that perfect employee that takes care of everything but isn’t really appreciated by anyone. Your heart really should break for her during those first scenes where you see her arrive all chipper and positive, only to be pushed down again and again.

You may recognize Jasmina Douieb from the Belgian series The Break which you can find on Netflix. In Employee of the Month, she’s the absolute star and you should go from feeling sorry for her to rooting for her.

As her new and strong sidekick, we see newcomer Laetitia Mampaka as Melody. She’s the new office intern and Melody’s own mother also used to work for the company. A company that sells cleaning products. So, once people start dying bloody deaths, Inès knowns exactly how to clean up every stain.

17 years with a company that sells cleaning supplies and expects her to do and know everything will do that. And having Melody by her side seems to empower Inès. Maybe a bit (or a lot) more than Melody was expecting. However, suddenly, Melody also feels the need for revenge and things evolve even further!

Employee of the Month is premiering in Canada at Fantasia!

Véronique Jadin is the director and co-writer of this dark comedy that also offers up bloody deaths (and murder) along with the grotesque consequences of having killed several people. This is the feature film debut of Véronique Jadin. She did also make a documentary in 2015.

The screenplay was written with Nina Vanspranghe and serves as her writing debut. While the story and directing are very solid, the cast is what really makes it work. They have to make it feel real even if it is also quite grotesque. And the cast manages to pull this off, which means the story works!

Employee of the Month was an official selection at Tribeca 2022 and is now screening at Fantasia 2022. Whenever you get the chance, I would really recommend that you jump at it at watch this crazy (and very bloody) Belgian horror comedy.

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH had a Canadian Premiere at Fantasia on July 17, 2022.

Details

Director: Véronique Jadin
Writers: Véronique Jadin, Nina Vanspranghe
Cast: Jasmina Douieb, Laetitia Mampaka, Peter Van den Begin, Alex Vizorek, Laurence Bibot, Philippe Résimont