87
Metascore
34 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayL'Enfant is intended as a pointed critique of pop culture's celebration of arrested adolescence. The title could refer to Renier's baby, Renier himself, or even the gang of schoolboy robbers that he's gathered around himself.
- 88Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversRenier and Francois give deeply affecting performances that help soften the film's harsh blows. But only in the compassionate eye of the Dardennes do these three children achieve a state of grace.
- 83Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerSonia may seem happy-go-lucky at the start, but grief steels her. It makes her grow up very fast. She becomes a kind of heroine in the course of the film, which ultimately owes its stature to her presence.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)New York Magazine (Vulture)The Dardennes' most accessible film. Their handheld camera catches tiny flickers of emotion that few filmmakers come near; you feel as if you're watching the movements of a soul.
- 80VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasThose masters of small-scale realism, Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, have created yet another beautifully acted, exquisitely observed morality tale in The Child.
- 80Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanAbove all, this is an action film--or, better, a transaction film. It's not just that the Dardennes orchestrate an exciting motor scooter purse-snatching and a prolonged hot pursuit. L'Enfant is an action film because every act that happens is shown to have a consequence.
- 80L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorAs Dardenne films go, with their slow, minutely observed journeys from despair to faint hope, L'Enfant is a horror movie of sorts, and for a few minutes at least, a kind of thriller.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt makes sense that L'Enfant has been hailed as a masterpiece, since a masterpiece is what it's trying, in every unvarnished frame, to be. If you wandered unknowingly into the film, however, you would see this: a stark, fascinating, and naggingly detached character study.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterRay BennettThe Hollywood ReporterRay BennettThe film clearly wishes to explore the topic of children having children, but it only inspires a great desire to smack them both.
- 50The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneThere is something willed and implausible at the heart of L’Enfant, beginning with the child himself--the first non-crying, non-hungry infant in human history, let alone in cinema.