17/05/2005

Considering their reputation in Cannes, Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne are amongst the most awaited contestants. Indeed, they already have quite a fancy carrier on the Croisette : in 1996, their film La Promesse was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight, in 1999, Rosetta won the Golden Palm (which also earned Emilie Dequenne an award as Best Actress), and in 2002, Olivier Gourmet was elected Best Actor for his performance in The Son. The Dardenne brothers therefore have every reason to have great expectations for L'Enfant [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile]. This film is actually quite close to La Promesse in terms of emotional impact and it is also interpreted by the same actor, Jérémie Renier.

Bruno is a twenty-year-old delinquent whose main business is to sell the stuff his young friends steal. Although his girlfriend Sonia is only eighteen, she has just had his baby, little Jimmy. However, Bruno is neither willing nor responsible enough to behave like a father —at least not yet. He actually would not mind selling the baby as if he was a stolen cell-phone, for it is money Bruno is really interested in. ‘We started thinking of this movie while we were shooting our previous project,’ the directors/brothers explain. ‘We were filming in Seraing, rue du Molinay, and every day, we saw this girl walk by with a sleeping baby in a crib. She did not seem to be going anywhere specific, she was just strolling on and on and on and pushing the crib. After that, we often though about her and her apparently fatherless child. This missing father became the main character of our film, for our film is not only about love, it is also about fatherhood.’

Thus, L’Enfant is a tough modern story about everyday life. Yet, it is subtle, for the Dardenne brothers built the plot very thoroughly, guiding us through the film until this story grows on us. The camera stands not just as an objective lense but as an eye-witness the spectator is meant to identify with. The actors are so well directed that we even forget they are acting. This is a kind of cinema which is not at all artificial ; as a result, the story feels totally real, which also owes a lot to the brilliant actor Jérémie Renier —in fact, the cast is one of the film’s main strengths. Bruno ingenuously brings this fate upon himself, and takes the spectator with him. However real the whole story feels though, this film is not a documentary : it transcends fiction, that is, it turns fiction into something more real than reality itself. Seeing this film actually feels like experiencing what happens in it.

Like their previous works, L’Enfant was self-produced by the Dardenne brothers (Les Films du Fleuve - Belgium) in collaboration with Denis Freyd (Archipel 33 - France). Celluloïd Dreams will handle international sales.

(Translated from French)