Between Two Worlds review – watchable but questionable gig economy drama

Rare, that we get to see the great French actress Juliette Binoche playing somebody who is not at the very least middle-class. In social-realist drama Between Two Worlds, she comes close – though quickly we realise it's a put-on, a successful writer pretending to be unemployed and on the breadline so she can work minimum wage jobs in order to research her next book.

Based on Florence Aubenas’s non-fiction bestseller Le Quai de Ouistreham and clearly influenced by the social-realist works of Ken Loach, it's a tricky subject matter that poses many an ethical question – questions that might prevent viewer immersion as one spends the length of the film considering the implications of such a ruse.

Even as novelist-turned-director Emmanuel Carrère attempts to stay neutral by shooting in a documentary-like style (ever the default for the social-realist feature), the film flips back and forth between feeling like a patronising indulgence and a well-meaning exposé. When wealthy Marianne is loaned a car by a poorer worker, it’s hard to justify her taking it, especially since the script mostly tries to avoid the obvious elephant in the room: the fact that Marianne can go home whenever she wants.

This queasy feeling haunts the film, because we know the truth will come out eventually. Whether Marianne’s experiment – and therefore this film based on the experiment – is a worthy cause or something less noble will depend on the viewer. The film offers no easy answers, perhaps because there aren't any, but it means ultimately the film itself reveals far too little about either world mentioned in its title. On its own terms, though, this is a watchable drama, well-acted by Binoche and the large cast of non-professionals – especially newcomer Hélène Lambert – who play her co-workers.

Between Two Worlds is released in UK cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema from 27 March.