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Good morning.  This week the Chief Medical Officer, Sally Davies, highlighted the prevalence of stress and depression in the workforce. Last year seventy million working days were lost as a result. The economic cost is huge. The human misery involved is incalculable. I listened to Professor Davies talking about the mental health of the nation after seeing “Two Days, One Night”, a Belgian film now on general release. It’s about Sandra, who’s been off work with depression. Despite her loving and loyal husband and seemingly happy children, her self-image is terrible. “I don’t exist” she laments. She’s employed in a small solar panel factory for a firm which doesn’t seem very profitable. While she’s been off work, her boss realises he can run the place without her. Her colleagues are given the choice of a bonus of €1,000 each or Sandra coming back. All but two want the bonus. A decisive vote is to take place after a weekend – the two days and one night of the title - in which Sandra seeks out each of her fellow workers and asks them to vote for her. Marion Cotillard, who plays Sandra, portrays a woman at the end of her tether summoning every last ounce of courage to survive, helped quite a bit by the anti-depressant pills she takes liberally. Her doorstep conversations with her fellow workers draw you into their lives as well. They’re all up against it. Some are poorer than Sandra. “I didn’t vote against you”, says one “I voted for my bonus”. Gradually Sandra draws strength from her very struggle. There’s an unexpected conclusion. She discovers a moral courage she hardly knew she had. There’s no suggestion she won’t face depression again but the woman who doubted she existed now seems fully alive. It’s a moving story, subtle and compelling. Some reviewers interpreted it as a critique of modern management, short-term contracts and non-unionised labour. There’s robust social commentary, certainly, but it’s also a very personal account of how someone’s life can be turned round. I was reminded of that puzzling invitation Jesus made to his followers to deny themselves and take up their cross if they wanted to find their way to life. His teaching appears to run counter to our experience. Yet, as the film shows, life doesn’t have to get easier for the human spirit to flourish. Personal victories are won when the adversity which has dragged us down no longer seems to have the last word. Most of the time we imagine pleasure leads to happiness and security must be essential for well-being. Sandra’s story reminds us that the journey to self-worth is a good deal more complicated than that.