L'enfant (2005) Online

Earlier this evening, I was attending the premiere of "L'Enfant" in Belgian theaters.

"L'Enfant" shows us a socio-drama, with a story located in the southern region of Belgium, in a city called Seraing, where most movies of the Dardenne brothers are situated.

I will not go into any plot summaries, but let me make a comparison with other directors, so you might get a clue if you'd like to watch this movie or not. Socio-drama is a genre in film not only made in Belgium. Many great directors have made solid socio-drama's: Aki Kaurismaki, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and many others.

Where you can find a twist of humor in Kaurismaki's movies, you'll have a hard time finding it in "L'Enfant". A high level of realism avoids any dramatization of the struggle-for-life the protagonists experience. This makes it for the viewer not easier to swallow. The absence of a soundtrack even increases this effect.

This movie has many strong points, and although I haven't seen many of the other films who were competing with "L'Enfant" at the Cannes film festival 2005, I think this film has fairly won the Palme d'Or because it scores very high on the essential aspects of film-making: acting, camera-work (see comment by Toon Creemers) and script (dialogues).

I highly recommend this movie, but don't expect to be visually entertained the way we are used to by big budget films from Hollywood. Movies like these don't need a lot of dialogue, fancy one-liners or historical quotes - the picture says it all, in a simple but effective way.

Enjoy,

The Dardennes, who won their second Palme d"Or at Cannes this year with "L'Enfant" (The Child), describe it as "a love story that is also the story of a father." Twenty-year-old Bruno (Jérémie Renier) is a petty thief and scam artist in Seraing, an east Belgian steel town, who lives off his girlfriend's welfare and impulsively spends whatever he steals. When eighteen-year-old Sonia (Déborah François) returns after the birth of their son Jimmy, Bruno's far worse than merely unready to accept the responsibility of fatherhood. Unbeknownst to Sonia, he decides to sell the baby on the black market. The film is about what happens following this grotesquely ill-advised decision. Who is really the "child" here? Well, clearly the story is about Bruno.

"L'Enfant" is urgent with movement and has little talk. As with the 1996 "La promesse" (The Promise, 1996), where Jérémie Renier debuted, "Rosetta" (1999), and "Le Fils" (The Son, 2003), the action is ceaseless and obsessive and seems almost real-time. But the Dardennes make every minute count. In those rare moments when the hyper-kinetic Bruno is momentarily still and the camera looks into his face, there's a strong sense of the doubt that will lead to his transformation. When Bruno tells Sonia "I'm sorry," or "I need you" and "I love you" the words carry weight because he doesn't normally ever say such things. But Sonia says, "You lie as you breathe." "L'Enfant" is as powerful and accomplished as anything the Dardennes have done, and as thought-provoking.

Unlike some contemporary films that depict unethical behavior as "cool" and without consequence, the films of Jean and Luc Dardenne display a moral center and consequences for people's actions. Their latest effort, L'Infant (The Child), winner of the Palme D'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, is a fully realized, powerful work of art that brings back Jeremie Renier, ten years after his impressive debut in La Promesse. Set in an industrial city in eastern Belgium, L'Infant is shot with the unmistakable Dardenne trademarks: a shaky hand-held camera, natural sounds with no background music, a concern for the underclass that globalization left behind, and a gritty and realistic look and feel.

Bruno (Ranier) and his girlfriend Sonia (Deborah Francois) live on the margins. He is a low-level thief, panhandler, and slacker who refuses to work and can only support his girlfriend by illegal means. It is clear that he loves Sonia but only in a playful, childlike way, not in a manner that recognizes adult responsibility. He lives for the moment rather than in the moment, pursuing instant gratification without thinking of how his actions may affect others. When she comes home from the hospital after giving birth to a baby boy she names Jimmy, she finds that Bruno has sublet her apartment in order to buy a jazzy windbreaker with stripes. With no apartment to go home to, the two are forced to huddle together on a cold embankment.

While Sonia waits in a long line for her unemployment check, Bruno, acting on a tip from a fence, impulsively decides on his own to sell Jimmy to a criminally connected adoption agency without thinking about how Sonia will react. When he tells her almost matter-of-factly what he did, she collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Bruno, showing remorse, tries to rescind the deal and retrieve Jimmy but is in over his head with a ruthless gang that demands he pay them a small fortune to compensate for their losses. Bruno begs Sonia to take him back and forgive him but she refuses. The more he tries to put his life in order, the deeper it sinks into chaos and, in a daring chase sequence, his reckless actions endanger the life of Steve (Jeremie Seard), his fourteen-year-old artful dodger.

The Dardennes do not tell us how to feel about Bruno and we are left to sort out our own reactions. A movie is not a court of justice," says Jean-Pierre Dardenne. "We try to make it so that the viewer feels many things about Bruno. When you see him selling the child, you think, 'No, this can't be, this is impossible.' But then the more you see him, the more you realize he's not just a bastard. You are forced to try to understand the character." Like the Dardenne's earlier films, the power of L'Infant is cumulative. As Bruno evolves and we become more aware of his vulnerability, our capacity for forgiveness is challenged and the film prompts us to grow along with the character. In an ending that is unique and painfully touching, L'Infant achieves a rare authenticity.

firstly you have to know that i am sixteen years old and i am from Argentina so, forgive me for my poor English.

i am a lover of Cannes cinema,and this movie showed me that i am not wrong. It is so real and crude that you suffer with the characters. Seeing Bruno walking in the lonely streets is when i take notice of what kind of movie i was watching. Not a very good movie otherwise a masterpiece that combines love, reality, suspense,and forgiveness.

You will believe that Bruno is a real person,who was followed by a camera in his "adventures" Watch L'infant if you want to see a class of how to turn a simple story into a crude and impacting film. A film where mistakes, love, forgiveness anb redemption are together to demonstrate what great directors and gifted actors can create.

I had the fortune to go see this at its Belgian premiere, which was attended by the main, and stunningly beautiful female actress, Déborah François. I found myself to be interested in the story from the start. The beginning of the film starts very simply, a young mother with a new-born baby searching on the street for what the audience presumes at the time, and is later verified to be the father of her child. The storyline then develops more as a sketch of the day-to-day living at the bottom of Belgian society. Though despite the fact a grim picture of the central couple's living situation is presented, the film-maker has not crossed the line and has interlaced many light-hearted moments into the movie.

The story develops as Bruno, the baby's father, is quickly shown to have no real interest in the baby or fatherhood, just in making money. He also is portrayed to have a genuine love for Sonya. In this sense the audience follows Brunos life, knowing not whether to cheer him or pray for his downfall, after he makes several questionable choices about the fate of his baby.

I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a simple film without Hollywood special effects, planned cinematography or any sort of soundtrack. I can see its appeal, but personally I came away wondering what exactly the director was trying to prove by making this film. He did succeed,however, to provide a somewhat entertaining, if slightly heavy film. The cast are excellent.

Industrialized societies have created a phenomenon among the young people that drop out from their midst, an aimless class without direction. Most of these youths will go into crime as the only means to survive their meager existences. They will also enter into relationships with other young people and produce illegitimate children, which is the subject at the center of this magnificent film by Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

Sonia, the young mother, is seen as the film opens looking for Bruno, the father of her infant son. It is clear, by the way we see Sonia take care of the baby, she is a mother who loves her son. Bruno, on the other hand, a petty thief, couldn't care less about this son, who probably looks not real to him, or at least, he cannot relate to the child's presence in his life.

Bruno, and the young teen agers that he befriends, are partners in crime in stealing whatever come their way. Bruno, who obviously has no scruples, doesn't think anything when he learns about the lucrative market for selling babies to criminals that are willing to pay a lot of money in order to get them. Selling his own son means nothing to him.

What Bruno doesn't count on is on Sonia's reaction, as she collapses in front of his eyes when he informs her about what he has done. The shock alone sends Sonia into the hospital where she is inconsolable for the great loss she has suffered. Seeing her in the state she is triggers in Bruno a reaction into getting back the baby. He gets the infant back, but the criminals involved in the deal will make him pay dearly for the business he took away from them.

The last straw that unravels Bruno is the street mugging with young Steve in which, unknown to him, people go after him in a chase that takes the duo into the river. Steve, who suffers a cold shock from the water, almost drowns from the experience. When Bruno confesses to the crime, he does the only decent thing he has done in his life. The final scene shows Sonia, who has come to visit him in prison with their son, and Bruno who finally understand the enormity of his crime and his guilt.

Jeremie Renier makes a good impression as Bruno. As the careless drifter, Mr. Renier does some of the best work of his career. He is totally believable as the petty criminal and predator. Deborah Francois captured Sonia and the love she felt for her son. Jeremie Segard is seen as Steve, Bruno's contact and partner in crime.

Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne are film makers that deal in real situations like the one they present us here. "L'Enfant" is one of the best films they have done because the intensity they bring to the story that shows that even a hardened criminal can redeem himself when he understand the enormity of his crime.

Although I have not seen all other Cannes' comp. films, I think this is a worthy winner of the Palm d'or. The film's scenery is gray Seraing, like the previous Dardenne films, and I think this is the first film in which the camera-work complements the scenery and story near perfectly. Scene's often contain only one or two shots, cutting right when everything has been said. Its one of the few films where I did not notice the camera (I'm a student cameraman), which should be the goal of every cameraman, at least in this style of film. The acting is very impressive (especially Jeremie Renier as Bruno), like previous Dardenne Films. The film seems the most accessible Dardenne so far, although it does not bore in simplicity (I saw it twice in one week, avant-premiere and sneak preview, and I liked the second time best).

L'Infant (The child), the new Dardenne movie, awarded with two Palms D' Or, is located in Seraing, the probably most marginal city of Belgium. A superb Jérémie Renier plays Bruno, an unemployed father, living from day to day to survive. He robs people and does not seem to have any remorse about what he 's doing. He even goes as far that he sells Jimmy, the baby (l'enfant). The reaction of the mother, a great Déborah François, makes him think and he tries to make it up to her. So far the story, this is a typical Dardenne movie. Same style, same sort of filming, not even music. Just hard reality, that's what they wanted to show the audience. What we get is a raw, sober movie. I did not miss the music at all, but it still misses something. The film does not absorb your full attention, like lots of people say. 'Lilja 4-ever', a Lukas Moodysson socio-drama, is way more touching than these characters in L'Infant. Not the greatest Belgian movie ever, but an enjoyable one. 8,5/10

L'Infant is the deserving winner of several awards, including the prestigious Palm d'Or at Cannes. The directors manage to achieve an engrossing simple, and tragic story which weaves several coming-of-age themes together without sacrificing a second of realism. Although the two leads are equally important to the development of the film, the action follows Bruno (Jeremie Reinier), a troubled, unstable, young man who lives at the fringes of society stealing and fencing with the help of a couple of young kids. Before the action of the film begins, Sonja (Deborah Francois), a young working class girl trying to make a life for herself, has fallen in love with Bruno and had a son with him. In the first few minutes of the film, she is carrying the infant through the streets of Seraing searching for Bruno, whose only method of contact, his cell phone, has run out of credit. When the couple are united, Bruno seems cheery and hopeful, but it is his love for Sonja that we are seeing here, and this love, though genuine, is the immature love of a man whose emotional growth has been stunted by the choices he habitually makes. Throughout most of the rest of the film, we are privy to several examples of these choices, and Bruno is placed in a position where he must either lose all hope and self-respect or commit himself to recognize his own responsibility (i.e. grow up), while the immediate prospects of doing either are unpleasant.

The film explores a number of important issues very sympathetically and yet with merciless realism. The film does not even distract its audience with a soundtrack. What is being said in the film is too important to waste on mere entertainment. L'infant is politically libertarian - emphasizing the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions. Attached to this painfully examined central theme are more familiar and obvious issues of adulthood, morality, love, romance, fatherhood, and survival.

The directing and script are flawless. The acting is superb - especially the two leads. You will instantly fall in love with Sonja, and as despicable as he is, it is hard to avoid feeling the same for Jeremie. And these two young actors accomplish this without a soundtrack, excessive editing, or a lot of fancy camera work. Bravo! As art, L'Infant is as straight-forward as you can get. It is unpretentiously filmed in a documentary style, with the camera sometimes getting uncomfortably close to the action in order to highlight the emotional impact of the performances. The camera work is subtle and excellent, but, unlike some of the reviewers, I was aware of the presence of the camera at times. Considering the claustrophobic interior sets, the lack of any form of distraction from the central plot and the hyper-realism of the film, it would be pretty difficult to avoid this completely.

As many others have said, this is an art film. However, its pace is consistent enough and its cinematography subtle enough to make it accessible for standard film audiences. This might be a good way to introduce an open-minded friend to true independent (as opposed to "Indie") and non-Hollywood film.

While most movies have become formatted and soulless products that get ruthlessly promoted and marketed or else are tedious and insufferable exercises in navel-gazing, only seldom does one come across a genuine work of art, a moving expression of the human mind. This film is the jewel in the crown of the Dardenne brothers and the towering achievement of their artistic endeavour. Bruno and Sonia are the main characters in this movie. They have a kid, he sells it (no spoiler, you get as much from the trailer), she... Find for yourself what happens next. The movie is fast-paced, it'll hit you like a punch in the stomach. It's very basic : love, betrayal, money, a redemption of sorts and cellphones or GSMs as they are called in Belgium. The actors are wonderful. Bruno is raw, forceful and energetic, a bit like a child, whereas Sonia's character makes for one of the best female parts I have seen as far as I can recall, a far cry from the usual dull and stereotypical fare that is dished out these days in movie theatres. The film will make you regain some hope in the power and strength of movies as works of art. Go see it.

I liked this movie a lot. First I think the camera-work was great and even at some moments I couldn't understand how he managed to take the shot in such a way. Second, The directors did I good job too, they deserve even more credit then the actors. Most actors can't act if the director isn't that good. Third, the story wasn't predictable at all Fourth, the scriptwriter and directors didn't choose the easy way of drama and didn't squeezed all the drama out of every scene like most Hollywood directors do. Instead of creating drama by known tricks they created it in a more original way This is one of the best movies I saw this year. go see it and think about it. Because Hollywood is brainwashing us. I saw so many American movies that I had difficulties watching other movies. Hollywood made me stupid. I had to start over, and forget everything about films I knew. Now I have much more fun and I feel a lot better after seeing a movie that was made by an author and not a moneymaker!

Dramatic, realistic, proposing honest portrait of an age, generation, near reality. A film about parenthood. Bitter, cold, well made. And about the build of responsability. All - gived in wise manner. With admirable force. A father. His son. A decision. And the transformation. And the price of option.

L'Infant is extraordinary surprising. I never had seen a Belgian movie so I was very curious about this when I was in the theater.

The script is about 2 young youths that aren't yet mature already carrying the burden of taking care of their own baby. Unemployed, without any good prospect of a real future, school droppers and not having reached maturity, they went on living just for the moment. The father is just a young, dull and irresponsible teenager that lives thru schemes and small petty crimes. The mother, looking as a 12 years old girl, thrives to support the child and don't discourage the way of living of her "husband", seen by her as fair and needed to aid their life.

The film focuses also on the illegal and dark commerce of adoption and selling of children, which is by the way what the boy will do to gain a load of money...

The movie then runs to decadence, regret, awareness of childish mistakes and bad options that, without surprise, would lead to an expected nightmare... jail.

Great acting, fair dialog(Due to the content of the story) and a voyage to the sorrow for the misfortunes of these 2 child-parents.

I can't say that I'm a fan of the previous Dardennes' movies... Saw Rosetta and "Le fils" and... well... didn't really go INTO them as I would have liked... probably because of the way (at the time) they were filmed ... sort of "dogma inspired" way of filming... following the neck/back of the characters, moving all the time... that makes me sea-sick... That's a detail that can make you laugh but something that disturbs me a lot from the story and that must not be used all the time in a film I think...

To me, the film is first a love story between two young people, two kids in a way (more the guy than the girl) more than a social drama... a true one... but nevertheless standing in a social context that is obviously proposed from the first images, and that counts and is indissociable from the characters and what they live and are living in.

What I felt is a real empathy for those two young lovers... Their love, their strength - each one trying to find a future, a new future... with their own means... Through money, through surviving, through a baby... through tears and the rare basic things of life they know or have been taught of...

It's 1h35 you're watching a young man grow...

My great enthusiasm for the film is also because of the actors. Jeremie Renier and Deborah Francois... They shine, they tremble and they're so true... I will also add the young boy who play Steve.. The film wouldn't be as touching without them... Wonderful belgian actors !!! BEST wishes to you all, you deserve it ! (Little moment of chauvinism, sorry LOL... anyway...

This is a film I would recommend...

A young couple who become parents and live in the underbelly of the world, who barely have enough for themselves, let alone a child. This child becomes a catalyst for a stark dose of maturity in this morality tale of Bruno and Sonia. When the film begins, they live in a carefree world and have no responsibilities. Bruno engages in petty acts of theft and street dealing which gives him enough for a couple of days. He's subletted his apartment to a pair of lovers while Sonia has gone into labor. She is even less prepared for the real world: riding in the back of a scooter with her newborn baby, she finds what Bruno has done to their apartment. They have to sleep in a tenement apartment, in separate bedrooms, and even then he finds a quickie deal to make in the wee hours of morning in which a young woman swindles him out of his hat and he is left out in the rain.

An impulsive decision, though, takes place: Bruno has sold his child for money. Sonia, however, is horrified and undergoes a 180-degree character change where she fully becomes a mother and shuts Bruno out while putting him under the authorities watchful eye. Even then Bruno hasn't changed: he denies little Jimmy is his son, and to make matters worse, he is being threatened by the men whom he sold his son to where he has to produce 5,000 Euros. THE CHILD becomes a morality thriller in which Bruno, in getting deeper and deeper into theft and deception, walks into a cul-de-sac and if forced to face the stark reality of his own sordid life.

The Dardenne brothers present these events with a grimness I haven't seen in a long time -- it's as if I were being showed a day in the life of a petty criminal. THE CHILD is a powerful film because it explores themes that most films avoid: baby trafficking, the neglected, those who are at the short end of the stick. It has great moments of non-dialog that tell more than a film crackling with words. Jeremie Regnier and Deborah Francois are great in their roles, you could believe they were going through this hell in real life. But Regnier is the one whom the film revolves around; he is the real Child in the movie, the boy who has not grown up, who lives in an arrested development, who will have to face Life as it is in order to become a Man.

There should be a genre that describes slow building, horrific but humanistic dramas such as this and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Technically, none of the plot points that happen in the movie are all that surprisingly, mostly because the synopsis gives you the basic gist: in this case, a young man sells his and his girlfriend's newborn for money and, when she understandably freaks out, he has to get the kid back and is further in the hole than when he started. However, what keeps you watching the movie for an hour and a half is not wondering how he gets the kid back, but the results of that initial poor decision coming out into their inevitable outcome. Meanwhile, you basically watch Bruno as he operates against time to rebuild the steady life that he never had in the first place.

The whole thing is shot in somewhat long takes, with simple stripped down perspectives that usually involve just staying within the space of the characters themselves. Most of this movie, after the opening scene of Sonia returning from the hospital, is Bruno's story, so for the most part from their on what you can see is either what he's doing or what he can see. Digital photography helps keep this movie looking cold and miserable (seriously you wonder about Sonia walking around in that skirt all the time) with the over-cast exteriors, and everything is muted and undertoned. The acting is stupendous, from childlike joviality to brooding barely concealed by stoicism. The best part is how this movie leads up to probably the most understated prolonged chase sequence in contemporary cinema, one that's tense and suspenseful but completely devoid of the flash of usual excitement-inducing action cinema.

The Dardenne brothers seem to be making quite a name for themselves in the international market, and from what I understand this movie doesn't deviate too far from their usual style. They are certainly a brother-director troupe to check out.

--PolarisDiB

I will admit up front that I didn't watch this entire movie. Why? Because I couldn't make it past the first 30 minutes.

The mother and father are portrayed as adult children with a child of their own. I suppose if I had kept watching, the father, Bruno, would be revealed to be the true infant who proceeds to grow up during the film.

Whoever wrote and directed this movie obviously has no experience with childbirth. The young lady who has just given birth is shown dashing around, chasing and being chased by her boyfriend, and also telling him she wants to sleep with him. I've given birth 4 times, and can guarantee you that running, chasing, and sex are not something that new moms are capable of doing! Ridiculous.

I only scored this 3* because I didn't see the whole thing, and perhaps it gets better as it goes on. Please, don't waste your time.

When the single mother Sonia (Déborah François) returns home with her newborn son, she finds that the baby's father Bruno (Jérémie Renier) had rented her apartment for a couple. She seeks out Bruno, who is a small time young thief that has a gang with two other teenagers, on the streets and they go to a shelter to stay during the cold night. On the next morning, they register the child with the name of Jimmy. When Bruno receives a proposal from his dealer for selling Jimmy for adoption for five thousand Euros, he steals the baby and sells him to his contact. However, when Sonia discovers what Bruno did, she faints, goes to the hospital and reports the transaction to the police. Bruno calls off the transaction and retrieves Jimmy, but has to pay to the dealers another five thousand Euros, in the beginning of his descent to hell and final redemption.

The low-budget "L'Enfant" is actually the realistic story of Bruno, an indifferent and alienated young scum originated from the upper class but without job for option that steals, lies, manipulates, wanders on the streets and seems incapable of displaying love, remorse or any other human feelings. Sonia is not well developed and the viewer never knows who she actually is and why she felt in love for Bruno. Jérémie Renier and Déborah François have awesome performances in the lead roles. The conclusion is disappointing since the final redemption of Bruno is inconsistent with his character. Maybe the intention of the writers and directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne is to give some hope to the audience instead of the expected dark and credible ending. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Criança" ("The Child")

A wonderful movie that really show the way of life in the very poor region of Seraing. I am not proud to be a Belgian when I see in what circumstances some Belgians people have to live. Especially if you know that we are one of the richest countries of Europe. The Dardenne brothers made a real masterpiece and deserve to win the "Palm d'or" of Cannes for that movie. And what a wonderful actor Jérémie Rénier is. Normally the Dardenne movies are a little slow p.ex."Le Fils" but this movie is not boring at all and the story is very good. Neverteless there is no music in the movie the sounds of the environment are enough to feel how it must be to live in "Seraing".

I saw the movie plainly out of curiosity of what would the Palm d'Or be awarded to this one. I was not disappointed. This movie never for once deviated from the focal point of the too simple story. The levels of poverty shown in the movie only strengthen the plot. However there is no other Palm d'Or awardee which is so predictable like this one. I guessed the ending only seven minutes into the movie, too late i guess.. The title says it all. Its not the baby. Its the babies. Bruno, who seems so nonchalant and casual while he sells his own baby to adoption, does look real stupid, wondering what wrong did he do while he's at the hospital with his girlfriend. But yes, i'd rather prefer "rosetta" to this movie. The total absence of any music, (even in a Belgian bar?) also adds to the gloomy, dull atmosphere in this movie. You need patience, lots of it for this one.

L'infant belongs to Sophie and Bruno, both feckless, petty criminals, in a seedy Belgian city. She has just come out of prison (?)with the newborn. She goes to their apartment but finds that Bruno has sublet the place to a bilious couple, so she has to track Bruno down at work trying to cadge small change from passers by. He is pleased to see her but diffident towards his son: Jimmy.

They spend the night in a shelter, or rather she does, as he cuts his time short to fence his stolen goods to a woman who drops a hint that if they're not up to raising a child they could adopt it out for a good price.

After showing us how they can only seem to communicate through adolescent rough housing, we are left with the distinct impression that they are too immature for parenthood. A few days later, while they wait in line, Bruno offers to walk the baby. He then sells it to a baby selling gang, and returns to show Sophie the wad of cash. Sophie passes out from shock.

We see not one wit of shame or guilt from Bruno up to this point. He is, we presume, an amoral street thug, out for how to make the next buck, and found the baby to good an opportunity to pass up for a sizable reward. Besides, given the empty life the baby will be looking forward to, the adoption by a better off couple doesn't seem to be bad for the child.

Sophie passing out seems to bring him to his senses. Is he remorseful? Does he love her? Up to this point all we have seen of their relationship is one of two vapid adolescent children, with no hint of any plans to make a future for their off-spring.

He carries her to a hospital and starts calling his go between to have the deal undone. At this point his motivation is left deliberately unclear. Is he doing so because he regrets his actions and needs to make it up to Sophie, or is he doing it because her accusations are over heard by the staff and the police will soon be carting him off to jail? In any event he manages to get the child back, giving up the E5,000 without a whimper, but then faces the angry brokers who are now out their E5,000. When he returns to the hospital with the baby the police are there and he makes up the story that he was just pretending to sell the child as revenge for her infidelity, and then calmly disowns the child as his.

Sophie refuses to talk with him and the police have to back off, and at this point in the movie we are no clearer to discerning any hint of empathy stirring in Bruno's pock marked face. I felt sorry for Sophie in her realization that her lover is as calloused as his feet, but presumed she would soon allow him back into her life. Yet as morally revolted as I was by Bruno, I still wanted to see if he could manage some kind of redemption.

The movie ends in leaving us to answer that question ourselves.

The crux of the movie is Bruno's character, or lack of it. He is no sociopath; he is not evil; his bland personality is as banal and unattractive as cold soup. He seems to not be dangerous, until faced with too much temptation to his greed. Yet he is difficult to hate. He is like that black sheep relative we all have and shake our heads about, so that we can whistle past the graveyard of our own inadequacies. He is what humanity can become when the spirit slumbers. He is society's unwitting sin eater.

The Dardenne bros. keep fooling me. Their 1996 film, "La Promesse", is a thoughtful, spare, slow (surprise), and powerful commentary on immigration, familial obligation, and child labor. It also stars a young Jeremie Renier, superb even at a young age, who plays the father, Bruno, in "L'Enfant". I had faintly heard of the Dardenne bros. beforehand and after watching this great work, I decided to see their other films. Unfortunately, "La Promesse" is the apex. When I watched their other films such as "Le Fils" (intolerably slow) and "Rosetta" (agonizingly slow but good) I expected something even just close to the glory of "La Promesse" but always came out disappointed. "L'Enfant" is yet another bad one. I was patient enough to watch the first three but by the fourth film I was pressing fast forward through at least 2/3 of it.

It's not surprising that the Cannes Film Festival awarded this film the Palme d'Or a few years ago. "L'Enfant" is the kind of film people who either are paid to watch or who have lots of time to do so love. It's a socially aware film which chronicles the lives of poor people, one which makes viewers from the upper economic stratum feel more socially responsible. And—let's call a spade a spade—it's not unlikely that critics, mostly old white men, belong to this group.

"L'Enfant" and "La Promesse" are both well-made, socially conscious films, the main difference is that the latter didn't forget the importance of storytelling which is essentially what films are all about. "L'Enfant" is realism pushed to the boring extreme. No matter how well-intentioned you are, no matter how grave the message, it gets lost to a lot of viewers because, especially in this day and age, our attention spans get shorter and shorter. It is the filmmaker's responsibility to grab the viewer's attention and the Dardenne bros. simply haven't.

Okay, so I'm an American living in the French part of Belgium where this film takes place. My French isn't so great yet, but I had my wife (aka translator) with me to fill me in on things maybe I couldn't follow. Luckily for me there wasn't a ton of dialog so it was quite simple to follow. That's the thing about this film, it's really simple. Sure it's an interesting story that needs to be told but it's not incredibly insightful or arresting. Being a young-ish father myself I never really believed this young couple were parents. The child was a prop. They made it look too easy. It's not really a film about L'Infant (the child), it's really about two selfish young lovers and this thing wrapped in a blanket. Sure, I believe this young woman's going to desire sex with her man the day she returns from the hospital with her new baby. I'm not buying that reality, either is my wife. Sure these people exist, but this wasn't very compelling story telling. I found ROSETTA much more powerful. And this isn't just the dumb American's opinion, my fellow audience members seemed unimpressed as well. Maybe if the film hadn't won the Palme D'or I could give the film some slack. Hey, I love Belgium and Belgians...my wife is one...I highly recommend the country and the people and the idea of these people winning awards, but not this film. Certainly not bad, but not great.

Bruno (Jérémie Renier, magnificent) and Sonia (Déborah François, who reminds me of a younger Julie Delpy) are immature, teen lovers. They live on the streets of Seraing, Belgium, getting money from Bruno's gang's petty crimes. Sonia gives birth to a baby boy, Jimmy, but Bruno is totally indifferent. He sells his newborn son without Sonia's consent, and she has a nervous breakdown when he tells her what he did. Bruno then goes against all odds to get Jimmy back, but it won't be an easy ride.

"L'Enfant" is a beautiful, raw poetry about children who haven't grown up, and have their own kids without even knowing how to care of themselves. This is a film of silences, gestures that say more than a thousand words. "L'Enfant" is the first film by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne that I've had the opportunity to watch, and I couldn't be more satisfied. After reading great things about some of his other films - "La Promesse" (1996), "Rosetta" (Golden Palm at Cannes 1999), "Le Fils" (2002, Olivier Gourmet was awarded Best Actor at Cannes) -; now I understand why they're considered some of the most talented names making films nowadays. Their honesty and strength to tell this poignant story, which could easily become an absurd melodrama, is mindblowing. "L'Enfant" gave the Dardenne brothers a second Golden Palm at Cannes, and hopefully the pompous award will make more people curious to check this work of art. Nothing is as simple as it seems, and as we get into the nightmarish world of Bruno, we see he's not only an immature, cruel lad who sold his own kid, but someone who hasn't even begun to live.

Sad and remarkable, "L'Enfant" has some similarities with Hector Babenco's classic "Pixote - A Lei do Mais Fraco" (1981) and is certainly one of the year's best. 10 out of 10.