The Dardenne brothers, Luc and Jean-Pierre, are an acclaimed Belgian filmmaking duo who direct, write, produce and edit their films together. They first became known for The Promise (1996) which was an unconventional story about illegal immigrants and the business behind it. Their next film was Rosetta (1999) a film which built around the idea of Franz Kafka's The Castle - where a prince gets thrown out of the castle; in Rosetta a girl gets thrown out of society. In Rosetta they started modernizing cinema, both philosophically and narratively, and continued it in Le fils which, to my mind, represents a vast turning point in the language of cinema. In their films social messages are combined with subtle documentary-like narrative.
The plot isn't as important to the Dardenne's as the movement is. The energy on the screen, how close we get to the characters, how close the distance between them and the audience is. The job Olivier does, woodcraft, has obviously something to do with this: it's the kind of work where you need to measure distances between destinations; Olivier is measuring the distance between himself and the boy.
There's no music at all in Le fils - as in the most films by the brothers. The opening credits will put the whole audience into silence and when the film's over the silence will fall to the theater once again. There's not much of dialog either in Le fils and through that we have to observe to get familiar with the characters. And this is what the Dardenne brothers are famous of - minimalism. We get to know the characters through their body language; through their eyes and gestures.
The story is about a carpentry teacher Olivier (Olivier Gourmet) who works in a rehab center. One day he refuses to take a new student to his class for an unknown reason, but eventually starts stalking and following him. When he finally accepts to take Francis (the new student) to his class an absurd relationship build between them.
The narrative is something mind-blowing for those unfamiliar with the earlier work of the brothers such as Rosetta (1999). This is a radical change in the language of cinema. The whole movie is filmed with a hand-held-camera so all the events are seen from the main character's shoulder. And that let's us to actually feel his emotions and get into his head. The narrative is very slow and quiet which let's us to observe and think on our own. The camera follows the character - it shows its life. The camera doesn't know, it doesn't see, it only sees what the character sees. So what has been cloaked from us? "Cloaking is very important" -Luc Dardenne.
Olivier, the main character, is so well built that one can't compare it with anything else. In Le fils he's very calm but yet it seems like he's aggressive and could explode at any second. The characterization is minimalist but very precise and considered. To me Le fils represents finest characterization out there today.
The main themes, this film deals with, are loneliness, guilt and forgiveness. It can be seen as some sort of an allegory for Christian redemption and forgiveness. The film is not religious but the Dardennes had a strong catholic upbringing and just as Krzysztof Kieslowski, an acclaimed Polish filmmaker, so do they understand what a vast impact Christianity has had on us and our conception of morality. They both have said that they're atheists and Luc Dardenne has written in his book, Behind Our Pictures: "God is dead, we know it. We're alone, we know it."
Le fils is quite a film, to my mind it's the best film made in the decade. It's multidimensional and complex a film which could be interpreted in a thousand different ways. To me the film was a touching moral study about the ultimate power of love, and forgiveness. Alongside with Rosetta this is one of the most experimental films made in the past few years. I think the brothers have reached a whole new level in cinematic narrative. The brothers are film-philosophers and Le fils has once again proved that film can and should be an instrument for thinking and contemplating.
The plot isn't as important to the Dardenne's as the movement is. The energy on the screen, how close we get to the characters, how close the distance between them and the audience is. The job Olivier does, woodcraft, has obviously something to do with this: it's the kind of work where you need to measure distances between destinations; Olivier is measuring the distance between himself and the boy.
There's no music at all in Le fils - as in the most films by the brothers. The opening credits will put the whole audience into silence and when the film's over the silence will fall to the theater once again. There's not much of dialog either in Le fils and through that we have to observe to get familiar with the characters. And this is what the Dardenne brothers are famous of - minimalism. We get to know the characters through their body language; through their eyes and gestures.
The story is about a carpentry teacher Olivier (Olivier Gourmet) who works in a rehab center. One day he refuses to take a new student to his class for an unknown reason, but eventually starts stalking and following him. When he finally accepts to take Francis (the new student) to his class an absurd relationship build between them.
The narrative is something mind-blowing for those unfamiliar with the earlier work of the brothers such as Rosetta (1999). This is a radical change in the language of cinema. The whole movie is filmed with a hand-held-camera so all the events are seen from the main character's shoulder. And that let's us to actually feel his emotions and get into his head. The narrative is very slow and quiet which let's us to observe and think on our own. The camera follows the character - it shows its life. The camera doesn't know, it doesn't see, it only sees what the character sees. So what has been cloaked from us? "Cloaking is very important" -Luc Dardenne.
Olivier, the main character, is so well built that one can't compare it with anything else. In Le fils he's very calm but yet it seems like he's aggressive and could explode at any second. The characterization is minimalist but very precise and considered. To me Le fils represents finest characterization out there today.
The main themes, this film deals with, are loneliness, guilt and forgiveness. It can be seen as some sort of an allegory for Christian redemption and forgiveness. The film is not religious but the Dardennes had a strong catholic upbringing and just as Krzysztof Kieslowski, an acclaimed Polish filmmaker, so do they understand what a vast impact Christianity has had on us and our conception of morality. They both have said that they're atheists and Luc Dardenne has written in his book, Behind Our Pictures: "God is dead, we know it. We're alone, we know it."
Le fils is quite a film, to my mind it's the best film made in the decade. It's multidimensional and complex a film which could be interpreted in a thousand different ways. To me the film was a touching moral study about the ultimate power of love, and forgiveness. Alongside with Rosetta this is one of the most experimental films made in the past few years. I think the brothers have reached a whole new level in cinematic narrative. The brothers are film-philosophers and Le fils has once again proved that film can and should be an instrument for thinking and contemplating.