L’Enfant
I thought my first post for PFC should be a brief review of a special film. “L’ Enfant” by the Dardenne brothers is that special film.
The story revolves around a young couple, Bruno (Jeremie Renier) and Sonia (Deborah Francois). They’ve just had a baby boy, Jimmy, and the film begins with Sonia looking for Bruno eager to show him his son. While Sonia desperately looks for her boyfriend, Bruno is busy robbing someone. He’s even sublet her apartment to make some cash on the side. The very opening of the film sets the premise of what one might expect from the main characters.
The naïve Sonia thinks that she can settle down with Bruno and bring up her baby whilst a vast portion of the latter’s mind is occupied by “How do I get more money?” Bruno is so desperate that when Sonia leaves Jimmy with him, he sees an opportunity of making money and sells the baby to black-marketers. Of course, Sonia freaks out and Bruno gets Jimmy back only causing more trouble for him than he already has.
By the end of the film it is clear that the title of the film applies more to the parents than to the child. I loved the scenes where Bruno and Sonia chase each other in the park like smitten teenagers and the other where Bruno digs his feet into muck and makes footprints jumping on a wall. I thought it was a touch of brilliance.
The real “infant” in the film is Bruno and Renier plays the part exceptionally well. Apart from his actions and the way his character is drawn, the fact that he is so much of a child is underlined by the two school boys who are his chosen partners in crime. The journey and transition that his character undergoes is made believable by the superb direction of the Dardenne brothers.
This film is an excellent example of how a story can be told simply yet vividly, and leave a strong and haunting impact on the audience. A multitude of human emotions are brought to the surface effortlessly by the directors. The camera is passive, yet intrusive at times. The narrative is simple and sometimes too simple which adds to the bleak drama of the film. I wouldn’t recommend it to the avid “Hollywood Movie” audience but it is perfect for a follower of good “Cinema”.
A brilliant film and a must watch for fans of world cinema.
Tags: French
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
welcome to PFC kaushik!
thanks striker!
welcome kaushik
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