AllMovie

Another superb drama from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, L'Enfant succeeds not because it illuminates anything about a black market for children (the characters motivations are entirely personal, not social), but in the way a finely detailed character study pays off in its final redemptive moments. The story has one major hurdle to overcome and that's to watch its main subject, an already hard to like immature teenager, Bruno (Jérémie Rénier, who also starred in La Promesse), sell his baby and have the audience invested in the story enough to care to watch him get him back. However, the impersonal, documentary-style camerawork and incredibly realistic performances by Rénier and Déborah François do not naturally garner Bruno any sympathy. Rather the Dardenne brothers, who have a strong Christian streak throughout their work, demand that the audience feel compassion for the characters. Thus, the power of its enigmatic ending depends on the viewer and how much credit he or she wants to give the irresponsible thief. Despite the quotidian details and patient pacing, the movie can be incredibly suspenseful, and its subtle yet airtight structure unexpectedly powerful, particularly in an extended sequence where Bruno and his young friend Steve (Jérémie Segard) rob a lady and are chased on their scooter and whenever Bruno takes possession of the baby. Robert Bresson's Pickpocket, particularly the ending, has been cited as a prime influence on this film. Like the Dardennes' other films, L'Enfant takes place in an anonymous industrial city in Belgium and was shot in their hometown of Seraing. It won the Palme d'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.