(THE CHILD)
2005

February 19, 2008
Netflix DVD
Belgium / France
French
100 Minutes
Drama
Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne

In a Belgian industrial town a petty thief decides to sell it for adoption to the highest bidder after his young girlfriend has a baby.

Two immature young people, on the edge of society, have their lives interrupted by a pregnancy. They live occasionally under a bridge, sometimes in a one-room flat. They fight and steal and beg for money. There is no doubt that they love each other very much. Getting a job is beneath them. Their love for each other is tested when Bruno takes the baby for a walk, and with as much thought has he would if it were a stolen camera, sets up a meeting where he receives several thousand euros in return for the baby.

Not as dreary as it sounds. It's lack of music makes it so matter-of-fact as to be nearly documentary. Bruno steals things with his gang of young students, sells them to a fence, and divides up the proceeds fairly. He's used to a life where he turns items into cash. Why should a baby be any different? His girlfriend Sonia does not see it that way.

Winner of the Palme D'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

*** Halliwells
8.7 Metacritic
7.5 IMDB

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