L'Enfant (2005)
Dispossessed twenty-year old Bruno (Renier) lives with his eighteen-year-old girlfriend Sonia (François) in Seraing, an eastern Belgian steel town. They live off Sonia's unemployment benefits and the panhandling and petty theft committed by Bruno and his gang. Their lives change forever when Sonia gives birth to their child, Jimmy. (Sony Pictures Classics)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Written By: Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Starring: Olivier Gourmet, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione, Déborah François, Jérémie Segard
Genre: Drama
AKA: The Child
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L'Enfant belongs to 48 collections
1. Palme d'Or (collaborative: moderated by mpowell - 79 stars)
2. 21st Century Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by dardan - 49 stars)
3. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)
4. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)
5. Coming Of Age (collaborative - 16 stars)
6. Metacritic - Universal Acclaim (collaborative: moderated by sengir - 14 stars)
7. Doubling The Canon (collaborative - 13 stars)
8. The Best of the Decade: An Alternative View (collaborative - 9 stars)
9. Skandies (collaborative: moderated by toro913 - 7 stars)
10. TSPDT 21st Century's Top 250 Most Acclaimed Films (2010) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 6 stars)
11. List: Taschen (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 6 stars)
12. TSPDT 21st Century's Top 250 Most Acclaimed Films (2012) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 6 stars)
13. European Film Awards: Best Film (nominations) (collaborative: moderated by Rubens - 6 stars)
14. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)
15. They Shoot Pictures: Top 100 Films of the 21st Century (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 5 stars)
16. Times Online: The 100 Best Films of the Decade (collaborative: moderated by hristos - 5 stars)
17. Cinemag's 100 Greatest Movies of the '00s (collaborative: moderated by hristos - 5 stars)
18. Doubling The Canon (2010 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 5 stars)
19. The AV Club Best Films of the '00s (public: TychoCelchuu - 5 stars)
20. No Soundtrack (collaborative: moderated by saudade - 4 stars)
21. Slant Magazine's Best of the Aughts (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 4 stars)
22. Cannes 2005 Official Selection (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 3 stars)
23. Directed collaboratively (collaborative: moderated by djross - 3 stars)
24. 501 Movie Directors (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 3 stars)
25. Coheed's Films I Need To See Or Try To Track Down (public: Coheed - 3 stars)
26. Dan Sallitt "red" films (public: Scottathon - 3 stars)
27. Unconventional Cinema (public: holsgr - 3 stars)
28. TSPDT 21st Century's Top 250 Most Acclaimed Films (2011) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 2 stars)
29. Super Champion Film Zone top 100 of 21st century (public: snallygaster - 2 stars)
30. Doubling the Canon (2011 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 1 star)
31. Directed by siblings (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)
32. Film Comment Best 50 Films of 2006 (public: djross - 1 star)
33. LesInrocks - 100 meilleurs films de la décennie (public: Thegoodboy - 1 star)
34. TSPDT Top 150 Most Acclaimed Films of the 21st Century (2017) (collaborative: moderated by arrow-s)
35. Paste Magazine's 50 Best Movies of the 2000s (collaborative: moderated by MacSwell)
36. To see (public: pcalado)
37. us-tv McD 101 from the 2000s (public: timxyz)
38. My DVD Collection (public: balseiros)
39. 2005: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
40. KENDELL'S MASSIVE LIST (public: kendell)
41. Watchlist (public: filipemb)
42. 5x10 Project (public: kendell)
43. Best Films I Haven't Seen (public: kendell)
44. Djross French feature films I've seen (public: djross)
45. 2005, Missing (public: Matthew Parkinson)
46. Bob's To Watch (public: apsays)
47. 100 (public: ehk2)
48. seen (public: gamzeknc)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 3 |  |
MartinTeller | 86 87th |
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Very Bressonian. Attention to detail, characters doing mundane things, moral transformation and redemption. L'Enfant goes for more of a realist style though, with a lot of documentary-style shooting and no score. This movie also shares its central flaw with L'Argent in that it hinges on the main character performing an extreme act, one that we're not convinced he would actually do. Besides that it's a very good film that effortlessly gets you involved with the characters and their situation.
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| 3 |  |
Paxton | 41 11th |
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The very idea that there's an attempt to suggest some form of redemption is alarming to me. Didn't care for this and probably won't ever write a musical based on the plot. Probably.
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| 2 |  |
Pickpocket | 7 68th |
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Didn't understand what the hype was about till the last half hour. That moped chase scene and the ending were amazing. Bruno = dbag
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| 2 |  |
billkerwin | 90 83rd |
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Bruno, a small-time thief living in Belgium's rust belt, casually sells his newborn on the black market, convinced he and the child's mother can easily make another. Is Bruno an unregenerate sociopath, or is he merely a young man desensitized by poverty, a selfish "child" living completely in the now, who nevertheless has the potential of achieving responsibility and redemption? This film makes us watch Bruno with interest--if not sympathy--and care about these questions and his fate.
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| 1 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 89 92nd |
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Realistic portrayal of a life I have no experience with. The acting from the young leads is superb and I love the way the film unfolds in a matter of fact way, making you pose your own questions and make up your own answers to the underlying motivations in the film.
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| 1 |  |
emtilt | 87 90th |
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Nice little film. It clearly invites comparison to Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (or Bresson's Pickpocket). Bruno, in contrast to Raskolnikov (or Michel), is not a philosopher-criminal, but a sort of brute (perhaps too obviously highlighted by his name?) that happens to commit crimes for a living. The film leaves us pondering what this implies for his redemption. One might also wonder who the titular "child" is. The baby? Bruno? Sonia (a name lifted directly from Dostoevsky)?
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| 1 | Nepeta | 65 35th |
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The performances are excellent, the pivotal scene, though moronic, is executed extremely well, the film has powerful moments that might have floored me if I gave a toss about Bruno after his decision and a chase scene is subtly suspenseful. Still the profoundly stupid decision Bruno made coloured every moment after it. I just can't trust a script that makes a character perform an action that was so overwhelmingly, astonishingly contrived and fake, and the naturalism only served to emphasise it.
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| Average Percentile 66.22% from 1036 Ratings |  |