Little known in America, outside circles of cinema enthusiast, Luc, and Jean-Pierre Dardenne are deeply influential Belgian directors. The dynamic duo is especially known for their minimal premises and it’s through the minimalism that they are able to convey and deeply explore life’s most complex issues. Employing long takes, ambient sound, natural lighting, and shooting on location, the Dardenne Brothers tell stories about the poor and working-class.
The must-see Dardenne film I would recommend is L’Enfant (The Child, 2005). The Dardennes’ second Palm d’Or came from their 2005 film L’ Enfant, a melodrama about a young couple, Bruno and Sonia (Jérémie Renier and Déborah François). Their everyday life gets turned upside down when they find out they’re expecting a child. Due to a series of unfortunate events, Bruno decides, behind Sonia’s back, to sell their baby to the black market adoption ring to make some quick cash.
Bruno looks quite older than Sonia, yet he behaves nothing like an adult, let alone a father. After having given birth to Jimmy, Sonia notices Bruno in a state of uninterest in his fatherly obligations. Granted, you don’t automatically become a ‘proper’ father right after having a child, however, what’s disturbing is that he continues to live in the moment. It seems as though he doesn’t think or even care about consequences. Sonia, although young and unavoidably immature at times, has moments of strong parental intuition.
Although the Dardenne brothers don’t employ narrative voice-overs or musical breaks to preach a particular teaching, they do seem to want to draw consideration to the notion that teenagers have absolutely no idea as to what parenthood truly is. Like much else, this can be argued, however within the confines of the world the Dardenne brothers have created in L’Enfant, I feel this to be true. One can say, however, that Bruno is acting like a hopeless wandering soul who’s doing anything to survive. However, what we see play out throughout the film is two adolescent lovers acting as such– youngsters. The film’s title touches on this, L’Enfant, who’s the actual child in the film?
The conclusion of the film, however, leaves us, the viewers, with an unusual perception of hope. All throughout the film Jérémie Renier and Déborah François gift us superb acting, but this final scene takes the cake. The scene is performed so beautifully and with hardly any dialogue. I applaud any film that is able to properly deliver understanding to the audience even with lack of dialogue and this scene is a perfect example. The scene contains ambient noise and only a few words that are uttered by the couple in the beginning, however, we strangely understand it completely. The powerful acting and our emotional investment throughout the film is concluded in this great scene.
Now the question we’re left with is what exactly happens to Jimmy? That’s for you to go find out. But no, don’t just Google it, darn it. Watch the film. The Dardennes were able to openly explore very personal and social themes of shame, regret, and heartache in L’ Enfant and it’s because of this that I recommend everyone to watch this film.
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Much love,
