L'ENFANT' PORTRAYS MAN IN MORAL VOID.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic The first thing we hear in the Dardenne brothers' latest character study, L'Enfant' (The Child), is a baby crying. Said infant, wrapped in a swaddling swad·dle tr.v. swad·dled, swad·dling, swad·dles 1. To wrap or bind in bandages; swathe. 2. To wrap (a baby) in swaddling clothes. 3. To restrain or restrict. n. puffy jacket, belongs to a mother desperately looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a room at the inn because the child's father has rather carelessly sublet sub·let tr.v. sub·let, sub·let·ting, sub·lets 1. To rent (property one holds by lease) to another. 2. To subcontract (work). n. their apartment. Never mind a manger this child will be spending its first night in a homeless shelter Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. . We don't see much of that baby boy in L'Enfant.' The child is crucial to the plotting, but the movie is really about the father, Bruno (Jeremie Renier), a petty thief who impulsively lives for himself and the moment. Bruno is completely uninterested in his child; fact is, he's barely cognizant of the child's mother, 18-year-old Sonia (newcomer Deborah Francois), a trusting girl whose faith in her companion will soon be shattered. Given that Bruno sublet the apartment when mother and child were due home from the hospital, given that Bruno exploits young kids to steal for him, and given Bruno's contemptuous attitude toward conventional living (Only (bleepers) work!' he says), he's probably never going to qualify for Father of the Year. But even after his fence casually mentions that there's a hot black market for newborn babies, what Bruno does next is truly horrifying. Can the true child of the piece be redeemed? If you've seen the previous films made by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (The Son,' Rosetta' and The Promise' among them), you already know the answer. This is the brothers' most accessible movie, though it still has all the earmarks the handheld camera work, the bleak working-class setting, the absence of a score that have characterized past work from these one-time documentarians. If it's apparent where the Dardennes are taking Bruno, the journey is no less affecting because of it. The brothers have always been able to lay their characters' souls bare, and with Renier, first seen nearly a decade ago in The Promise,' they have an actor more than capable of conveying the cracks forming in Bruno's stony facade. (There's a great scene of father and child on the subway where Renier delivers a portrait of moral ambivalence and callow cluelessness.) The Dardennes don't ruminate ru·mi·nate v. ru·mi·nat·ed, ru·mi·nat·ing, ru·mi·nates v.intr. 1. To turn a matter over and over in the mind. 2. To chew cud. v.tr. on the societal ills that shaped this young man's life. (We briefly meet Bruno's mother, who seems hardened to her son's misadventures.) L'Enfant' focuses on the here and now, the possibility that all human beings have within them compassion, remorse and the capability to sacrifice their own interests for another. (The brothers like their Christian allegories, though their work need not be read that way.) In some respects, it's a childlike way of looking at the world, following Jesus' admonition Any formal verbal statement made during a trial by a judge to advise and caution the jury on their duty as jurors, on the admissibility or nonadmissibility of evidence, or on the purpose for which any evidence admitted may be considered by them. to become as little children' so as to enter the kingdom of heaven. However you want to look at it, L'Enfant' is a blessed experience. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com L'ENFANT (THE CHILD) - Three and one half stars (R: brief language) Starring: Jeremie Renier, Deborah Francois. Director: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Running time: 1 hr. 31 min. Playing: Laemmle's Town Center 5 in Encino; Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena; Laemmle's Monica 4 in Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. ; Landmark's Westside Pavilion The Westside Pavilion is a shopping mall located in West Los Angeles. It is owned and operated by The Macerich Company. It is a three story urban-style shopping mall with 150 shops and is anchored by a Macy's (formerly May Company and later Robinsons-May) and a Nordstrom. in West Los Angeles
Playing: Latest film from Belgium's Dardenne brothers focuses on a young man who finds he is capable of remorse and compassion after committing a grievous sin. Powerfully affecting. In French with English subtitles sub·ti·tle n. 1. A secondary, usually explanatory title, as of a literary work. 2. A printed translation of the dialogue of a foreign-language film shown at the bottom of the screen. tr.v. . CAPTION(S): photo Photo: The Dardennes brothers' ``L'Efant'' features Deborah Francois and Jeremie Renier as parents of a newborn boy. |
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