I WAS KILLED BY WORK

Written by Hubert Prolongeau and Arnaud Delalande

Adapted from a comic book published by ©Futurapolis in June 2019

A young engineer, Carlos Pérez, gets a job with a French carmaker in 1988, thus making his childhood dreams come true. A lower class child of immigrant parents, he climbs the social ladder in a society which marginalised his parents. He gets a job, gets married and is expecting his first child.

His life turns around when his employer relocates the company site to the outskirts of the city, across town from where Carlos lives. A new generation of executives comes to life with the new board of directors. The machine is on. Carlos is sent to supervise factory work in Argentina, so that another executive can take over his job. Then follows a transfer to Romania, with his family left behind. Pointless meetings come one after another, his superiors begin humiliating him in an inhuman way. Victim of in-work harassment, Carlos will turn to the irreversible.

A career turns into hell, a model employee broken by his company. A close-up look at an individual story, a building block of so many alike, in the modern world. A disturbing subject told with a subtle approach, nerve-strikingly close to reality. The designs of Mardon, sketch- like, highlight the tensions and the difficulties of the modern professional life. Strong visuals, a real moral knock-out.