29/11/2005

We might make a film with a female protagonist who lives on the outskirts of the city with her very violent children." This was how Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne responded today in Rome, after the screening of film L'enfant [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile], when asked if they would make a film on a collective upheaval such as the one that broke out outside of Paris.

In the meantime, on December 7 in Italy, Bim will release their latest film, the Cannes 2005 Golden Palm winner. The Dardennes describe L'enfant (see Focus) as an "initiation film. Or, rather, how young man comes to discover his humanity. He manages to cry tears and doesn’t even know where they come from." Shot in the bare-bones style that characterizes the two Belgian directors, without too many concessions made for dialogue, the film’s main character is 18 year-old Bruno (Jeremie Renier), who lives completely irresponsibly, as a petty thief, and loves Sonia (Deborah Francoise). The arrival of their newborn baby forces Bruno to face his responsibilities: Bruno decides to sell the nine-day-old baby and immediately find himself having to get it back in order to win back his girlfriend.

"Bruno is a character who lives in the present, off of his petty trafficking. He has no feelings,” said the two directors in a film class held for the general public at Rome’s Casa del cinema. “But, in the end, he discovers an emotion, something he did not have previously." The idea for the film came about inadvertently when the Dardennes saw "a young woman roughly dragging a pram, as if she were searching for her baby’s father. " How will Italian audiences receive this film? "I hope that many will be willing to adopt our baby."

(Translated from Italian)