It may have taken nearly 25 years, but the typically admired Dardenne brothers have turned controversial and divisive–which, history tells us, is a common consequence of portraying radical Islam. How amply they’ve addressed the topic in Young Ahmed is not quite my territory–those seeking a discussion would be well-advised to read Soheil Rezayazdi’s Filmmaker interview–but in psychological portraiture it represents a revitalization from 2016’s narrative-dependent (albeit undervalued) The Unknown Girl. As played by Idir Ben Addi, Ahmed marks one of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s most fascinating creations.
I was fortunate enough to sit with the duo at last fall’s New York Film Festival and pore over Young Ahmed‘s particulars: its conforming and deviating from the Dardenne visual palette, its reliance on Muslim communities, and how to gauge whether or not an audience’s response is in fact correct.
Thanks to Nicholas Elliott, who provided on-site translation.
I was fortunate enough to sit with the duo at last fall’s New York Film Festival and pore over Young Ahmed‘s particulars: its conforming and deviating from the Dardenne visual palette, its reliance on Muslim communities, and how to gauge whether or not an audience’s response is in fact correct.
Thanks to Nicholas Elliott, who provided on-site translation.
- 2/21/2020
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Fitting their preoccupations with contemporary Europe’s working class, the latest from Belgian’s preeminent filmmaking duo, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, seeks to boldly tackle the radicalization of a Belgian-Arabic teen. Their approach in Young Ahmed is as compassionate and conscientious as one can expect from the brothers—they’re master storytellers operating at their most consistent and polished—yet it lacks the moral specificity of their best work or formal daring of their second-most-recent outing (The Unknown Girl), the end result being a derivative misstep.
At school, the erratic Ahmed (first-time actor Idir Ben Addi) displays intense animosity for his instructor, Madame Inès (Myriem Akheddiou), who seems to genuinely care for him and worries about his recent rash behavior. Ahmed rushes to leave class early, refusing to say goodbye and asserting that it’s unacceptable for a true Muslim to shake a woman’s hand. This opening uncannily mirrors...
At school, the erratic Ahmed (first-time actor Idir Ben Addi) displays intense animosity for his instructor, Madame Inès (Myriem Akheddiou), who seems to genuinely care for him and worries about his recent rash behavior. Ahmed rushes to leave class early, refusing to say goodbye and asserting that it’s unacceptable for a true Muslim to shake a woman’s hand. This opening uncannily mirrors...
- 9/24/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
A modern morality tale told with meticulous suspense, “The Unknown Girl” is the latest film from Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Known for realist stories grounded in themes of economic and social justice, the Dardennes play with genre and mystery for their tenth feature. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, where it received mixed reviews, “The Unknown Girl” has been described as “social-realist film noir.” The film released its official U.S. trailer today.
Read More:‘The Unknown Girl’ Directors The Dardenne Brothers Say They’re Really Just One Person
After refusing after-hours care to a mystery woman found dead outside her clinic, a young doctor (Adele Haenel) becomes obsessed with discovering the fate of the unidentified caller. Plagues by guilt, she begins a methodical search to learn more about the young woman’s life and death. The film also stars Jeremie Renier, Olivier Bonnaud, and Louka Minnella.
Read More:‘The Unknown Girl’ Directors The Dardenne Brothers Say They’re Really Just One Person
After refusing after-hours care to a mystery woman found dead outside her clinic, a young doctor (Adele Haenel) becomes obsessed with discovering the fate of the unidentified caller. Plagues by guilt, she begins a methodical search to learn more about the young woman’s life and death. The film also stars Jeremie Renier, Olivier Bonnaud, and Louka Minnella.
- 8/10/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
In the 20 years since their breakthrough, The Promise, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made seven features, all of which ranged from great to sublime, won two Palme d’Ors as well as countless other accolades, and pretty much invented – or at least perfected – a style of social realism so influential and widely imitated that their trademark shaky, over-the-shoulder-cam has become a cliché of the genre. It seemed like the Belgian brothers were incapable of failure. Enter The Unknown Girl, which a charitable viewer might describe as the Dardennes on auto-pilot.
The plot point that kick-starts the narrative is a straightforward one: Jenny (Adèle Haenel), a young doctor working in the Dardennes’ usual stomping ground of Seraing, is in her practice an hour after closing time. There is a buzz on the door, which she ignores, reasoning that if it were an emergency the person would buzz again. In the morning the police arrive.
The plot point that kick-starts the narrative is a straightforward one: Jenny (Adèle Haenel), a young doctor working in the Dardennes’ usual stomping ground of Seraing, is in her practice an hour after closing time. There is a buzz on the door, which she ignores, reasoning that if it were an emergency the person would buzz again. In the morning the police arrive.
- 5/18/2016
- by Giovanni Marchini Camia
- The Film Stage
Premiering at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where it went home empty handed from the Jane Campion headed jury, Belgian directing duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne continue their more recent trend of working with critically acclaimed French actresses, concocting one of their most emotionally potent titles to date, Two Days, One Night. Star Marion Cotillard would lose twice to American actress Julianne Moore in the international awards area, who trumped her at Cannes for Maps to the Stars and at the Academy Awards for Still Alice. Still, it’s an increasingly intense boil of a performance, ranging from quiet desperation to an act of selfless defiance that will transcend the trappings of any such contemporary award recognition.
Married and a mother of two, Sandra (Cotillard) has recently returned to work after a period of sick leave following a bout of depression. In her absence, management at Solwal, a local solar panel company,...
Married and a mother of two, Sandra (Cotillard) has recently returned to work after a period of sick leave following a bout of depression. In her absence, management at Solwal, a local solar panel company,...
- 8/25/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Two Days, One Night
Written and directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
Belgium/France/Italy, 2014
The end of Sandra’s (Marion Cotillard) journey does not matter, it is the journey that does. And though that sounds entirely conventional, even cliché, it might be the brilliance of Belgian auteurs Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne; their ability to get away with plot points that would seem at home in the most Hollywood, middlebrow fare comes off as resonant, enthralling, and emotionally realistic. Thus, in Two Days, One Night, the Dardennes prove their relevancy and potency as directors once again.
But let’s not give all the credit to them: Cotillard is frankly mesmerizing as Sandra, a woman who must go from co-worker to co-worker to convince them to vote in her favor so that she can keep the job that she needs in order for her family to make ends meet. As an actor,...
Written and directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
Belgium/France/Italy, 2014
The end of Sandra’s (Marion Cotillard) journey does not matter, it is the journey that does. And though that sounds entirely conventional, even cliché, it might be the brilliance of Belgian auteurs Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne; their ability to get away with plot points that would seem at home in the most Hollywood, middlebrow fare comes off as resonant, enthralling, and emotionally realistic. Thus, in Two Days, One Night, the Dardennes prove their relevancy and potency as directors once again.
But let’s not give all the credit to them: Cotillard is frankly mesmerizing as Sandra, a woman who must go from co-worker to co-worker to convince them to vote in her favor so that she can keep the job that she needs in order for her family to make ends meet. As an actor,...
- 9/26/2014
- by Kyle Turner
- SoundOnSight
Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at next month's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Two Days, One Night." The directors: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgian, 63 and 60 years old). World cinema's favorite fraternal directing duo, and the pre-eminent figures in Belgium's spotty filmmaking history, the pair grew up in the French-speaking Wallonia district, studied drama and philosophy respectively, and co-founded the Derives documentary production company in 1977 -- it stands to this day. After a decade of non-fiction work, they made their first narrative feature, "Falsch," in 1987; their third feature, 1996's "La Promesse," proved the breakthrough, premiering at Toronto, winning a couple of major Us critics' awards,...
- 5/1/2014
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
A pregnant teenager flees life with her drug-addicted mother and ends up living on the street before being welcomed into her first real home in this gripping first trailer for Gimme Shelter, an extraordinary tale of survival and redemption inspired by actual events. Starring Vanessa Hudgens, the film will be in theaters January 24, 2014.
For 16-year-old Agnes “Apple” Bailey (Vanessa Hudgens), life has been a constant struggle to overcome the harsh reality of a subsistence existence with her abusive mother, June (Rosario Dawson), and June’s string of lowlife boyfriends. When she finds herself pregnant and alone, Apple temporarily takes shelter with her biological father, Tom (Brendan Fraser), a wealthy Wall Streeter living in a New Jersey mansion with his wife Joanna (Stephanie Szostak) and two young children. But Apple’s inability to adjust to her new circumstances, and her refusal to terminate her pregnancy, soon force her back onto the streets.
For 16-year-old Agnes “Apple” Bailey (Vanessa Hudgens), life has been a constant struggle to overcome the harsh reality of a subsistence existence with her abusive mother, June (Rosario Dawson), and June’s string of lowlife boyfriends. When she finds herself pregnant and alone, Apple temporarily takes shelter with her biological father, Tom (Brendan Fraser), a wealthy Wall Streeter living in a New Jersey mansion with his wife Joanna (Stephanie Szostak) and two young children. But Apple’s inability to adjust to her new circumstances, and her refusal to terminate her pregnancy, soon force her back onto the streets.
- 11/26/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Dardenne brothers have begun shooting their latest film - one of 21 features to receive a major financial boost from Eurimages.
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have commenced principal photography on Two Days, One Night (Deux Jours, Une Nuit) in Seraing, Belgium.
For full production details visit
Two Days, One Night (Deux Jours, Une Nuit)
Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard and Fabrizio Rongione play the leads alongside a variety of Belgian actors including Olivier Gourmet, Christelle Cornil and Catherine Salée.
The film follows 30-year old Sandra (Cotillard) and her husband (Rongione) on their hunt across the city for colleagues prepared to sacrifice their bonuses so she can keep her job.
Artificial Eye pre-bought the film for the UK from Wild Bunch, which is handling international sales. Sundance Selects has acquired it for the Us.
This €7m ($9.1m) film will be co-produced by Les Films du Fleuve (Belgium), Archipel (France) and Bim (Italy).
The technical crew will be mainly Belgian, including...
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have commenced principal photography on Two Days, One Night (Deux Jours, Une Nuit) in Seraing, Belgium.
For full production details visit
Two Days, One Night (Deux Jours, Une Nuit)
Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard and Fabrizio Rongione play the leads alongside a variety of Belgian actors including Olivier Gourmet, Christelle Cornil and Catherine Salée.
The film follows 30-year old Sandra (Cotillard) and her husband (Rongione) on their hunt across the city for colleagues prepared to sacrifice their bonuses so she can keep her job.
Artificial Eye pre-bought the film for the UK from Wild Bunch, which is handling international sales. Sundance Selects has acquired it for the Us.
This €7m ($9.1m) film will be co-produced by Les Films du Fleuve (Belgium), Archipel (France) and Bim (Italy).
The technical crew will be mainly Belgian, including...
- 6/26/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Chicago – All this fuss about Ben Affleck not getting nominated by the Academy after directing three decent flicks is even more inane in light of the fact that Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, arguably the greatest directing duo in modern cinema, haven’t garnered any Oscar attention. At all. Their latest naturalistic triumph, “The Kid with a Bike,” snagged a mere Golden Globe nod several months before it even premiered on U.S. screens.
The alleged edge-of-your-seat suspense in “Argo” has all the tautness of a snail race compared to the blistering tension conjured by the Dardenne Brothers as their camera confines the audience within the solitude, desperation and mounting dread of their troubled protagonists. “The Kid with a Bike” is the Dardennes’ most excruciatingly suspenseful and emotionally galvanizing effort since their 1996 breakthrough, “La Promesse.” Both films center on self-sufficient boys in danger of deteriorating into destructive products of their environment,...
The alleged edge-of-your-seat suspense in “Argo” has all the tautness of a snail race compared to the blistering tension conjured by the Dardenne Brothers as their camera confines the audience within the solitude, desperation and mounting dread of their troubled protagonists. “The Kid with a Bike” is the Dardennes’ most excruciatingly suspenseful and emotionally galvanizing effort since their 1996 breakthrough, “La Promesse.” Both films center on self-sufficient boys in danger of deteriorating into destructive products of their environment,...
- 2/21/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
There’s an extraordinary moment in Rosetta, the Dardenne Brothers’ Palme d’Or winning slice of grungy life from 1999. About 22 minutes in, Emilie Dequenne’s sooty faced street urchin turns her ballistics up to eleven, and savagely cusses out her mother’s would-be John, then immediately greets her romantic interest by tearing him off his moped and trying to kick the living snot out of him. It’s a stunning display of unfocused rage, and firmly establishes Rosetta as a young woman capable of shockingly violent hysteria; a baby-faced waif consumed by anger and frustration that’s set on a hair trigger.
The Dardennes’ latest, The Kid with a Bike, is a grueling 87 minutes of such moments, as the Brothers reassert their mastery of desperate stories about screwed up young people. Set once again in the environs of Liege, Belgium, the film introduces us to, and quickly immerses us in,...
The Dardennes’ latest, The Kid with a Bike, is a grueling 87 minutes of such moments, as the Brothers reassert their mastery of desperate stories about screwed up young people. Set once again in the environs of Liege, Belgium, the film introduces us to, and quickly immerses us in,...
- 2/12/2013
- by admin
- IONCINEMA.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Feb. 12, 2013
Price: DVD $29.99, Blu-ray $39.99
Studio: Criterion
Thomas Doret takes it underground in The Kid with a Bike.
The Kid With a Bike is a 2011 drama film from the great Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (La Promesse, Rosetta).
In the movie, 12-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret), all coiled anger and furious motion, is living in a group home but refuses to believe he has been rejected by his single father (Jérémie Renier, Summer Hours). He spends his days frantically trying to reach the man, over the phone or on his beloved bicycle. It is only the patience and compassion of Samantha (Cécile de France, Hereafter), the stranger who agrees to care for him, that offers the boy the chance to move on.
Well-received by the critics, who noted that it was spare and unsentimental but genuinely tender, the PG-13-rated The Kid With a Bike enjoyed film...
Price: DVD $29.99, Blu-ray $39.99
Studio: Criterion
Thomas Doret takes it underground in The Kid with a Bike.
The Kid With a Bike is a 2011 drama film from the great Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (La Promesse, Rosetta).
In the movie, 12-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret), all coiled anger and furious motion, is living in a group home but refuses to believe he has been rejected by his single father (Jérémie Renier, Summer Hours). He spends his days frantically trying to reach the man, over the phone or on his beloved bicycle. It is only the patience and compassion of Samantha (Cécile de France, Hereafter), the stranger who agrees to care for him, that offers the boy the chance to move on.
Well-received by the critics, who noted that it was spare and unsentimental but genuinely tender, the PG-13-rated The Kid With a Bike enjoyed film...
- 1/15/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
While there have been many coming of age films about teenage girls, it’s safe to say none have been quite like Rosetta, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Palme d’Or winner from 1999. Finally getting its long awaited North American video release by Criterion, Rosetta is a film that will shock viewers with its raw, jagged energy and unvarnished realism. Watching the film is an experience akin to having dirt thrown in your face, leaving viewers to spit out specks of grit while a destitute young woman wages war with society, her family and herself.
Played by 17 year old Émilie Dequenne, Rosetta lives a hand-to-mouth existence in a decrepit trailer park on the dingy outskirts of Liége, Belgium. Rosetta’s mother (Anne Yernaux) is an alcoholic who has given up on life, and spends her days huddled about the camper in a torpid funk. So determined is Rosetta not to...
Played by 17 year old Émilie Dequenne, Rosetta lives a hand-to-mouth existence in a decrepit trailer park on the dingy outskirts of Liége, Belgium. Rosetta’s mother (Anne Yernaux) is an alcoholic who has given up on life, and spends her days huddled about the camper in a torpid funk. So determined is Rosetta not to...
- 8/14/2012
- by David Anderson
- IONCINEMA.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 14, 2012
Price: DVD $29.95 each, Blu-ray $39.95 each
Studio: Criterion
A teenager comes to understand the implications of his father's crafty ways in La Promesse.
Brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, the Belgian filmmaking team that emerged on the international cinema stage in the late 1990s, earn the Criterion imprimatur with the release of two of their breakthrough works, La Promesse and Rosetta.
La Promesse (1996) brought the brothers’ renowned eye for detail and compassion for those on society’s lowest rungs to the eyes of the arthouse circuit. It’s a drama that follows a teenager (Summer Hours’ Jérémie Renier) as he gradually comes to understand the implications of his father’s making a living off of illegal alien workers. Filmed in the Dardennes’ industrial hometown of Seraing, Belgium, it’s been lauded as a fine and observant tale of a boy’s troubled moral awakening.
The DVD and...
Price: DVD $29.95 each, Blu-ray $39.95 each
Studio: Criterion
A teenager comes to understand the implications of his father's crafty ways in La Promesse.
Brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, the Belgian filmmaking team that emerged on the international cinema stage in the late 1990s, earn the Criterion imprimatur with the release of two of their breakthrough works, La Promesse and Rosetta.
La Promesse (1996) brought the brothers’ renowned eye for detail and compassion for those on society’s lowest rungs to the eyes of the arthouse circuit. It’s a drama that follows a teenager (Summer Hours’ Jérémie Renier) as he gradually comes to understand the implications of his father’s making a living off of illegal alien workers. Filmed in the Dardennes’ industrial hometown of Seraing, Belgium, it’s been lauded as a fine and observant tale of a boy’s troubled moral awakening.
The DVD and...
- 6/20/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Updated through 5/19.
"As movie titles go, The Kid with a Bike could hardly be more direct and explicative in its unadorned simplicity," writes David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter. "Which is a perfect encapsulation of any film by the resolutely unshowy maestros of humanistic portraiture, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Back at the festival that has already crowned them with two Palmes d'Or (for Rosetta in 1999 and The Child in 2005), the Belgian siblings are again at the peak of their powers in this impeccably observed drama."
Glenn Heath Jr at the House Next Door: "An enduring drive propels 11-year-old Cyril (Thomas Dorset) to ignore the writing on the wall that his young father, Guy (Jérémie Renier), has indefinitely left him to the care of a state-run facility. The opening sequence introduces Cyril's durability and directionality, as the boy escapes and heads toward his now abandoned apartment looking for his father and beloved bike.
"As movie titles go, The Kid with a Bike could hardly be more direct and explicative in its unadorned simplicity," writes David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter. "Which is a perfect encapsulation of any film by the resolutely unshowy maestros of humanistic portraiture, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Back at the festival that has already crowned them with two Palmes d'Or (for Rosetta in 1999 and The Child in 2005), the Belgian siblings are again at the peak of their powers in this impeccably observed drama."
Glenn Heath Jr at the House Next Door: "An enduring drive propels 11-year-old Cyril (Thomas Dorset) to ignore the writing on the wall that his young father, Guy (Jérémie Renier), has indefinitely left him to the care of a state-run facility. The opening sequence introduces Cyril's durability and directionality, as the boy escapes and heads toward his now abandoned apartment looking for his father and beloved bike.
- 5/19/2011
- MUBI
Release Date: July 31
Directors/Writers: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Starring: Arta Dobroshi, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione
Cinematographer: Alain Marcoen
Studio/Run Time: Sony Pictures Classics, 105 mins.
Powerful, unflinching drama about money schemes and immigration is fifth consecutive great film from Belgium’s Dardenne brothers
Few filmmakers have made such a string of artistic successes as Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne from Belgium. Even fewer have done it with a style so original and distinct as to influence filmmakers the world over. And fewer still have done it from a steady perspective of compassion. By all evidence, the Dardennes care deeply about the world’s forgotten people.
Directors/Writers: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Starring: Arta Dobroshi, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione
Cinematographer: Alain Marcoen
Studio/Run Time: Sony Pictures Classics, 105 mins.
Powerful, unflinching drama about money schemes and immigration is fifth consecutive great film from Belgium’s Dardenne brothers
Few filmmakers have made such a string of artistic successes as Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne from Belgium. Even fewer have done it with a style so original and distinct as to influence filmmakers the world over. And fewer still have done it from a steady perspective of compassion. By all evidence, the Dardennes care deeply about the world’s forgotten people.
- 8/11/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
Le Silence de Lorna, Cannes, In Competition
While the Belgian-born Dardenne brothers are genetically incapable of making an uninteresting film, it must be admitted that "Le Silence de Lorna" -- though always eminently watchable -- is not up to the standards of their devastating 2005 Golden Palm winner, "The Child", or previous miracles like "The Son", "Rosetta" (winner of the Golden Palm in 1999), and "The Promise".
Thus, while their diminutive but devoted international fan base can be counted on to turn out for this new film as well, its success in most territories is going to be even more modest than usual. Ancillary possibilities, especially on DVD and Euro television, look more promising.
All the while maintaining their signature hand-held, quick-cut, slice-of-life aesthetic, the Dardenne brothers have ventured into new territory here. This time they focus their all-seeing camera on a young Albanian woman, Lorna, who has married a Belgian drug addict to obtain Belgian citizenship.
On the one hand, it's good to see the Dardennes trying something new, something beyond their normal cast of working-class Belgian feckless ne'er-do-wells. On the other hand, it feels like they don't really know this new territory very well -- neither in terms of the novel characters they're using, or the physical move to Liege from Seraing, the industrial town in which all their previous films have been set -- giving "Le Silence de Lorna" a highly derivative feel. Throw an Italian mobster and a Russian mafioso into the mix, and the resulting stew feels very foreign indeed.
As always in their films, the principal focus is on a moral dilemma faced by the chief protagonist. In this case, Lorna's gangster co-conspirator Fabio wants to kill off the drug addict, Claudy (played with intensity by Jeremie Renier, who debuted with the Dardennes at age 14 in "The Promise"), with an overdose of heroin. The more scrupulous, less ruthless Lorna wants get rid of Claudy by following the riskier course of faking grounds for divorce instead.
To this end, she bangs her arms against the door in one scene and smashes her forehead against the wall in another, all in order to provide evidence that the pathetic Claudy is abusing her. At the same time, and contradictorily, she is also trying to save him from his drug habit and in the process becomes emotionally attached to him.
The moral dilemmas in these films also always stem from untenable positions that the socially-disadvantaged characters find themselves in. In this regard, Lorna is only a slightly less vivid example of a sad lineup that the Dardennes have consistently offered up in an ongoing, powerful critique of the unjust world that some human beings continue to construct at the expense of others.
Cast: Arta Dobroshi, Jeremie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione, Alban Ukaj. Directors: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Screenwriters: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Producers: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Director of photography: Alain Marcoen. Production designer: Igor Gabriel. Costume designer: Monique Parelle. Editor: Marie-Helene Dozo
Production Companies: Les Films du Fleuve, Archipel 35
Sales: Celluloid Dreams
No MPAA rating, 105 minutes...
While the Belgian-born Dardenne brothers are genetically incapable of making an uninteresting film, it must be admitted that "Le Silence de Lorna" -- though always eminently watchable -- is not up to the standards of their devastating 2005 Golden Palm winner, "The Child", or previous miracles like "The Son", "Rosetta" (winner of the Golden Palm in 1999), and "The Promise".
Thus, while their diminutive but devoted international fan base can be counted on to turn out for this new film as well, its success in most territories is going to be even more modest than usual. Ancillary possibilities, especially on DVD and Euro television, look more promising.
All the while maintaining their signature hand-held, quick-cut, slice-of-life aesthetic, the Dardenne brothers have ventured into new territory here. This time they focus their all-seeing camera on a young Albanian woman, Lorna, who has married a Belgian drug addict to obtain Belgian citizenship.
On the one hand, it's good to see the Dardennes trying something new, something beyond their normal cast of working-class Belgian feckless ne'er-do-wells. On the other hand, it feels like they don't really know this new territory very well -- neither in terms of the novel characters they're using, or the physical move to Liege from Seraing, the industrial town in which all their previous films have been set -- giving "Le Silence de Lorna" a highly derivative feel. Throw an Italian mobster and a Russian mafioso into the mix, and the resulting stew feels very foreign indeed.
As always in their films, the principal focus is on a moral dilemma faced by the chief protagonist. In this case, Lorna's gangster co-conspirator Fabio wants to kill off the drug addict, Claudy (played with intensity by Jeremie Renier, who debuted with the Dardennes at age 14 in "The Promise"), with an overdose of heroin. The more scrupulous, less ruthless Lorna wants get rid of Claudy by following the riskier course of faking grounds for divorce instead.
To this end, she bangs her arms against the door in one scene and smashes her forehead against the wall in another, all in order to provide evidence that the pathetic Claudy is abusing her. At the same time, and contradictorily, she is also trying to save him from his drug habit and in the process becomes emotionally attached to him.
The moral dilemmas in these films also always stem from untenable positions that the socially-disadvantaged characters find themselves in. In this regard, Lorna is only a slightly less vivid example of a sad lineup that the Dardennes have consistently offered up in an ongoing, powerful critique of the unjust world that some human beings continue to construct at the expense of others.
Cast: Arta Dobroshi, Jeremie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione, Alban Ukaj. Directors: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Screenwriters: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Producers: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Director of photography: Alain Marcoen. Production designer: Igor Gabriel. Costume designer: Monique Parelle. Editor: Marie-Helene Dozo
Production Companies: Les Films du Fleuve, Archipel 35
Sales: Celluloid Dreams
No MPAA rating, 105 minutes...
- 5/19/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.