Marion Cotillard stars in Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne’s Two Days, One Night. The film has received excellent reviews at Cannes, where it reportedly left audiences in tears, and has emerged as a leading contender for the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the festival. An achievement in any circumstance, but a win for Two Days, One Night would be especially memorable

If their film were to take the top prize, the Dardenne brothers would be the only filmmakers to win three Palme d’Ors. The duo previously won for Rosetta (1999), which examines a girl who tries to maintain a job while being raised by an alcoholic mother, and The Child (2005), a movie that follows a young couple who sell their son on the black market. Two Days, One Night features Cotillard as a married woman on the verge of losing both her sanity and her job. Depressed and addicted to Xanex, Cotillard’s character desperately tries to save her career at a solar-panel factory and protect her family.

The Oscar winning actress (La Vie en Rose) seems a perfect fit to dramatize the misunderstood Sandra. Cotillard explained how she gravitates to outcast characters, “I like complex roles… beings that fight for their survival and that will in doing this discover things inside them that they didn’t suspect.”

Whether it ends up winning Cannes or not, we won’t be surprised if Two Days, One Night resurfaces as an awards contender late this year. IFC will distribute the film to the U.S. later this year, but have yet to announce a date.