By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne | Luc Dardenne
Starring: Déborah François | Jérémie Segard
Original language title: L'enfant
Country: belgium, france
Year: 2006
Running time: 100
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456396/reference
Chris says: “Despite the leisurely pace and authentic stabs at social realism, don’t say nothing ever happens in a film by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Like their previous feature THE SON, this one gradually bottles up a lot of tension only to reach a cathartic release in its final ten minutes.
“The title may refer to Bruno (Jeremie Renier), a 20-year-old petty thug in a working-class Belgian town; it just as well may also refer to his newborn son, Jimmy. Bruno and Sonia, the boy’s mother, are seemingly in love (often acting as carefree and foolish as most children) but Bruno hasn’t a shred of responsibility in him. When he comes across some money, he’s more likely to gamble it away or buy matching leather jackets for himself and Sonia than to spend it on a necessity like shelter or food. Eventually, he takes this sort of impulse buying to a misguided, outlandish extreme–using his child as a commodity. Needless to say, Sonia doesn’t take it too well, and Bruno is left to reverse his actions and pay heed to their consequences.
“I found most of the film slightly less compelling than its predecessor: it could’ve used more of the Dardennes’ favorite actor, Olivier Gourmet, who appears briefly as a police inspector. Still, I have to admit I was eventually won over: those last ten minutes constitute a thrilling, well-executed chase sequence (and its aftermath) like nothing that’s come before, which is appropriate as we see a change in Bruno at last. In those surprising, wrenching final scenes, L’ENFANT proves itself to be a film about redemption through one’s own moral accountability, but the solutions offered are far from simplistic or under-thought. 4 cats”
Bruce says: “Imagine a world with no moral code, where everything is just an object to be bartered away or stolen. Such a world is inhabited by Bruno (Jérémie Renier) and Sonia (Déborah François), young adults still very much like children – pushing, shoving, tripping, and spraying each other as primary forms of communication and entertainment. Their life together is uncomplicated until they have a baby. For Bruno, having a child does not mean a sudden shift into a world with responsibilities.
“While Sonia is in the maternity ward, Bruno sublet’s her apartment to a friend in order to get some drug money. According to Bruno, ‘Only fuckers work,’ and Bruno makes sure he sticks to his philosophy. When mother and child leave hospital, there is no home to go to. However, the dynamic of the relationship has shifted because Sonia has a basic understanding of the demands of parenthood.
“Sonia gets sick and has to go back in hospital. While she is there Bruno sells the baby on the black market which euphemistically positions the transaction as a pay-to-adopt situation. Sonia is horrified and devastated. ‘I thought we’d have another,’ Bruno tosses off as some sort of justification for his actions. The cops are suspicious of Bruno and it seems just a matter of time before his antics catch up to him. But what about Sonia, what about the baby? Can he get the baby back?
“Bruno is raggedly handsome; we understand his charm. And that is the reason this film is so effective. He begs. He flatters. He steps in mud before he runs up a wall leaving his footprints as his signature. He spends a fortune on a deluxe bassinet. Featured as a child actor in the Dardennes’ LA PROMESSE where he plays the tough but sensitive son of a disgusting man who lives off the miseries and fears of illegal African immigrants, Jérémie Renier has maintained his edge and perfected his craft. In L’ENFANT he creates one of the most delicious characters I’ve seen on screen in some time.
“The Dardennes are bare bones filmmakers and their style is cinema verité. In my opinion L’ENFANT is their best effort to date in a career that includes award winners LA PROMESSE, ROSETTA and THE SON. 5 cats“