The Dardenne brothers, here directing their fifth feature (Rosetta, La Promesse, The Son, and L’Enfant), have another singular creation. Always solidly in the sphere of Rossellini working-class neo-realism, les Dardennes have this time chosen the story of a young Albanian immigrant in Liege, Belgium, who does what she must to survive, instinctively behaving morally as she proceeds through her predicaments.
The Dardennes are only interested in the lives of the downtrodden fringe-dwellers of society, and they treat their subjects oh-so-humanely. The immigrant Lorna (Arta Dobroshi), needing money, has signed on as an accomplice to the mob, in a plot to marry a Russian in order to get him Belgian citizenship. First however, she must divorce the Belgian man she married for the same purpose. This man, Claudy, acted magnetically as always by Jeremie Renier (L’Enfant, Summer Hours, Private Property) happens to be the neediest of drug addicts, who literally clings to Lorna as his only hope for a normal life. The mobsters she has become involved with need her to divorce Claudy quickly in order to marry the Russian, but Lorna’s innate humanity heads in a surprisingly different direction.
What follows are the darkly humanistic answers inferred from the film’s title – will Lorna remain silent? The movie’s ending is very moving, as Lorna (and the Dardennes) seek an ontological answer to human travails. – [DVD]
Drama
Rated R
DVD Release Date: 1/5/10