• L’Enfant

12/30/22 (Fri)

The Dardenne brothers look again at the Belgian underclass in this 2005 film, which won the directors their second Palme d’Or in three years. Bruno is a 20-year old living on the edge who we first see on the streets going from car to car asking for spare change. His girlfriend Sonia, fresh out of the hospital after giving birth to their child, has come to the father to show him the baby, but Bruno shows less interest in that than in identifying the next mark for his accomplices to rob. She had already returned to her welfare-provided room to find that Bruno has rented it out in the interim. And that’s not all he ends up selling off: when he learns that black-market adoption agencies will pay good money for kids, he hands over his own child in a dark setup where cash and baby are exchanged in shadow through half-opened doors. In a harrowing scene, the horrified mother promptly faints at the news; Bruno carries her in his arms on to the highway and hitches a ride to the hospital. Stung by either remorse or fear of arrest, he manages to buy the boy back and return it to the mother, who refuses to speak to him again. Moreover, the criminals want a premium for having to give the kid back – and the troubles deepen, forcing Bruno into increasingly desperate measures. In the end, Bruno makes a considerable sacrifice when his 14-year-old accomplice in crime is arrested, and ultimately reunites with Sonia in a beautiful moment of atonement and forgiveness.

Bruno is not evil but self-absorbed, living for the moment without a thought to the consequences. He begs for money, then uses it to buy a jacket, rent a convertible or otherwise live in a brief illusion of happiness, only to have to hunt for money again. It becomes clear that the infant of the title is not the child but Bruno himself. Sonia enjoys Bruno’s company and goes along his impulsive ways until it impacts her in a profound way.

That said, it’s hard to accept that he would effectively kidnap and sell off his own child without the mother’s knowledge in the way it was presented here (he tells the stunned Sonia that they can just have another one), meaning that the entire film is based on a highly questionable premise. It would take much more desperate circumstances or a truly twisted character to make that scenario credible; it came off here as a manufactured plot point. Still, it is carried off with great skill, and subsequent developments are terrifyingly logical. The final tearful scene when he discovers his conscience is particularly moving. Some reviewers question whether Bruno is sincere here or playing a part again, but this level of emotion doesn’t strike me as something he could fake. Maybe I’m an optimist, but I’d prefer to think that redemption is possible and that he has learned from his experience. Sonia’s willingness to meet with him again, whether or not that leads to acceptance (the film leaves that open), at least hints at the possibility of such. The scene was wonderfully presented.

Jérémie Renier, so memorable as a teenager a decade earlier in the Dardennes’ The Promise, was terrific as Bruno in another artless performance, and Déborah François was superb as Sonia, especially her silent rejection of him after Bruno’s betrayal. Olivier Gourmet, Renier’s co-star in the earlier film, makes an appearance as a detective. The film is even-handed in its treatment of Bruno and not preachy, which makes the dramatic moments in the text stand out even more. An outstanding film.