Prud'hommes

Every year thousands of conflicts are dealt with via a special jurisdiction process, the Tribunal des Prud'hommes, established in the 19th century to resolve management and labor disputes. It delivers a service that is swift, free, and accessible, with straightforward, primarily oral procedures. This court is a revealing social barometer, full of stories, dramas great and small. "Les Prud'hommes" crystallizes tensions, upsets, suffering and rebellions that are part of a rapidly changing, ever more brutal and complex world of work. For the first time in Switzerland, a camera crew has been allowed into the public galleries to film the Tribunal at work in Lausanne. The result is a caustic look at a very particular form of theatre, a play of words and emotions, bosses versus workers, accompanied, or not, by a lawyer or union representative. Amusing and moving by turn, the film takes us into the heart of the human comedy, that of contemporary society.