La promesse

The performance of Jérémie Renier is memorable. (He's also great in L'infant). The Dardennes are obviously influenced by Robert Bresson and have a similar interest in use of realistic sound, and observation of everyday tasks. They especially like workshops, and woodworking tools. Like Bresson, they eschew incidental music and produce a very naturalistic view of events. And they do it so well. This film will remain in your conscience for a long time after you have seen it, and should satisfy those who need a resolution and a conclusion in their movies, by offering at least an answer to one "will he - won't he?" dilemma.

These guys are making some of the best cinema of the present era.

La Promesse is one of the best films of this decade. With its simple style and character-driven plot, one may think that the film comes from one of the Dogma 95 manifesto directors but it doesn't. The film's strengths lie in its theme of morality and responsibility and in its no-nonsense portrayal of the immigrant situation in Belgium (with reverberations reaching all across Europe). One can say that it's a coming-of-age tale--and in some ways it is--but when one thinks of the usual film categorized as such, the moniker doesn't match. Even the scene where Igor is being seduced by an older woman, while his father and his father's girlfriend look on, has no follow-up, no clumsy bedroom scene where we see Igor lose his virginity. The film makers just cut from the seduction scene in the bar to Igor the next morning back to his "job" at the dilapidated building site. Clearly, the directors are unconcerned with the staples of the "coming-of-age" genre. More precisely, I think it should be called a "coming-of-conscience" film. The final scene is at the same time heartbreaking and thought-provoking. The way they end the movie is a masterstroke because it forces the viewer to ponder what will come next, thus prompting self-reflective questions on what the viewer himself or herself would have chosen to do.

This film was a gem and I look forward to seeing "Rosetta" by the same filmmakers, although I missed it back in '99.

The story has a gritty documentary feel in its depiction of lower-class immigrant experience in Belgium, but nonetheless is dramatically compelling because of the tension between the father and the son.

I haven't seen this side of modern European urban life treated in film this well.

I tend to think of any film in a foreign language as an 'artsy' movie, and avoid them like the plague. However, I had the good luck to catch "La Promesse" and I might have to change my thinking. The story is the kind that catches your interest quickly and never lets go. The film never adopts a high air...in fact, it's very gritty, which makes it that much more enjoyable. The characters are so believable you might think you're actually watching a documentary. To top it off, the morality play at the heart of the movie is done remarkably well. If you're in the mood for something different, see this movie.

The movie brilliantly immerses itself in the details of running an illegal immigrant business (excellent scenes of the interchange of money; petty extortion; the miserable compromises and requests of the immigrants), from which the black couple and child gradually emerge as a sort of beacon of hope because of the gracious simplicity of their rituals in their horrible hovel. The movie avoids sentimentality or overt analysis - it s a highly respectful portrait of tumultuous actions in a very specific, eye-openingly grim sector of low life. The boy's relationship with the father is satisfyingly rounded - accommodating obvious mutual affection despite the outbursts of violence and the terrible paternal example set overall - and the portrayal of the woman is culturally precise and fascinating. A fine film, balancing enormous relevance with proper mystery.