The cinema of resistance: An interview with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Abstract

Naturalistically shot, impeccably constructed, uncompromising and emotionally searing, the Dardenne brothers' films give voice to a population often despised or ignored: illegal aliens, slumlords, corrupt officials and small-time criminals. To their characters the brothers bring a compassionate view born of the understanding that this under-class has, in part, been created by society's higher-ups. These are figures of limited material and social means who, under the most dire circumstances, must grapple with life-and-death decisions. And though the pair might deny it, their films also suggest an ingrained Christian vision through insisting on the transformative possibility of the most debased being. Le Silence de Lorna, their latest portrait, which premiered at Cannes, failed to elicit the rapturous response received by some of the earlier work, such as the 2005 Palme d'Or winner L'Enfant/The Child. Yet despite an exposition that some found lengthy, the Dardennes bring great resonance to this fable of a young Albanian immigrant caught in a terrible dilemma who struggles to redeem herself. As in 1996's La Promesse, the film focuses on the machinations forced on illegals hoping to grab a morsel of the world's wealth - in this case through fake marriages for citizenship. But this time the brothers have placed their camera in the more gentrified city of Liege, rather than their grimy industrial hometown of Seraing. I caught up with the Dardennes at the 'Cannes Film Festival' in May 2009, where Le Silence de Lorna won the award for best screenplay, and had the following conversation with them about the totality of their film work.