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L' enfant
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List Price: $19.94
Our Price: $17.99
Your Save: $ 1.95 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Jérémie Renier, Déborah François, Jérémie Segard, Fabrizio Rongione, Olivier Gourmet
Directed By: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396150966
Format: AC-3
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: 2006-08-15
Running Time: 96
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
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Editorial Reviews:
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Dispossessed twenty-year old Bruno (Jeremie Renier) lives with his eighteen-year-old girlfriend Sonia (Deborah Francois) in Seraing an eastern Belgian steel town. They live off Sonia's unemployment benefits along with the panhandling and petty thefts committed by Bruno and his gang. Their lives change forever when Sonia gives birth to their child Jimmy. She returns home after Jimmy's birth to find that Bruno has sublet their apartment to total strangers. After an initial and promising change of heart about becoming a father and changing his ways Jimmy becomes little more to Bruno than a potential source of wealth. Desperate for money and unable to face his parental responsibilities Bruno sells Jimmy to a black market connection who promises to find the child an adoptive home. Realizing the error in his actions Bruno sets out to try and undo his callous deed leading him to a powerful personal transformation.System Requirements:Run Time: 96 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â DRAMA Rating:Â R UPC:Â 043396150966 Manufacturer No:Â 15096
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Other Half
Comment: I was drawn to this movie because Jeremie Renier's cameo as the French soldier with a brain injury in Atonement (Widescreen Edition) was my favorite performance in that film. I wanted to see more of his work. I will look for "La Promesse" and "Criminal Lovers." "L'Enfant" is a hard film to watch because of the subject matter. The DVD extra conversation with directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne was enlightening as they articulated how they are trying to show France's other half, where people are not well off, where no one will hire them and the will to survive by any means is strong. Deborah Francois performed in her first film here and has gone on to do more work including one with the intriguing title "Red Ants." As Sonia, she is a whirlwind of maternal emotion. With the film starting as she comes home and finds that her boyfriend has sublet her apartment, we know Bruno will be an unusual character. The film builds him up as Sonia searches for him. Renier does a marvelous job. His good looks and screen presence makes us not hate Bruno, despite his doing such terrible things. We see Bruno and Sonia romp and play like children in love. Jeremie Segard well plays the red-haired purse-snatching boy that is Bruno's accomplice. The Dardenne brothers who look so remarkably alike were nominated for Best director from the Toronto Film Critics Circle; and the film won the Palm d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. This is a difficult film to watch. However, as a social symptom and as a character study, it is well worth the effort. Enjoy!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Portrait of the Loser as a Young Man ...
Comment: Bruno is an amateur loser. No job. No prospects. Won't work. Lives by thievery and his small-time hustles. Bruno - new father - tries to sell his baby to strangers without the mother's knowledge. For some reason, she reacts negatively when he informs her of the transaction. Imagine that!
He spirals downward until he touches bottom and shows a flicker of integrity just when he is put in the slammer for purse-snatching. Can he turn his life around?
Maybe but ... why should we care?
Eschewing realism, the baby in this movie never cries. Bruno does, though. Due to this and the rest of his immature behavior, he is the true enfant in this film.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Quietly Affecting
Comment: This film sneaks up on you. About half-way through I put it aside and never got back to it, and would have been perfectly happy returning it unfinished. But then I discovered I had another day, so finished watching it, and by the final scene I was crying with Bruno and Sonia.
Sure, when the film starts out both Sonia (wandering around Seraing looking for her baby daddy) and Bruno are narcissistic, nearly emotionless, drifters, pretty but about as interesting as the flotsam by the canal that is a constant presence. But the shocking central event, when Bruno sells their days-old infant to an illicit adoption ring, brings about transformation. Sonia develops spine, resolve, purpose (primarily to have nothing to do with Bruno, who has crossed way over the line). Bruno's comfortable (in its own way) life of petty crime spirals downward as he gets on the wrong side of some heavy, or at least heavier, hitters, and then a robbery goes drastically wrong. But in the end, he has stepped up to the plate and done the right thing at least a couple of times. Weak, but not mean, it seems Bruno may also be becoming a chordate. The final scene ties it all together emotionally and leaves us with some hope, but not certainty, for Bruno and Sonia.
I rate the film a bit shy of 5*, but will round up to compensate for some of the extremely negative reviews.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the most overrated films in recent memory.
Comment: This won the Palme D'Or? Absolutely ridiculous. I would call it a pretentious bore but there is nothing even artifically high-minded about the story so I would it an unpretentious bore. The main character is completely devoid of any trait that might compell us to root for, hate, empathise, admire, relate to or understand. Bruno (protaginist) is a bad boyfriend, horrific father, inept thief, bumbling con artist. Who cares what happens to him? The baby in the movie is a rubberlike being that never cries, poops, laughs. It's absolutely annoying to watch the young couple interact with such a lifeless prop. The only saving grace is Deborah Francois, who puts in the ony believable performance in the movie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: L'Enfant
Comment: Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's affecting film is akin to watching little children playing with fire. While it's hard to sympathize with the rather dim Bruno as he commits his enormous blunder, we realize these kids have no positive examples to draw on in making decisions, and that by circumstance, adulthood has been thrust on them well before they're ready for it. The only question then becomes: will this fragile little family survive? This potent, heart-rending film succeeds admirably in making us root for a hopeful outcome.
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