Cast:
Bruno: Jérémie Renier
Sonia: Déborah François
Awards:
Golden Palm, Cannes Film Festival (2005)
Running time: 95’
Production: Belgium / France, 2005
Rating: Restricted
(brief language)
Gauge: 35mm, DVD (color)
Distributor:
New Yorker Films
“The
brothers have a style and set of interests as instantly
recognizable as any filmmaker in the world - visceral
camerawork, impeccable performances, a concern for Belgium's
dispossessed, an unlikely affinity for Robert Bresson.”
James Hoberman, The Village Voice
Dispossessed
twenty-year-old Bruno lives with his girlfriend Sonia in an
Eastern Belgian steel town. They live off Sonia’s unemployment
benefits, panhandling, and the petty thievery of Bruno and
his gang. Their lives change forever when Sonia gives birth
to their child Jimmy. She returns home from the hospital to
learn that Bruno has sublet their apartment to total strangers.
The two are forced to make do under a highway bridge. Bruno
feels little attachment to their baby and Jimmy becomes little
more to him than a new source of wealth. Desperate for money,
Bruno sells Jimmy through the black market. Upon learning
what Bruno did, Sonia faints and ends up in the hospital.
Realizing his terrible mistake, Bruno sets out to get his
baby back. He eventually does but is forced to come up with
the money that his black market contact lost in the failed
deal. After stealing the day’s earnings from a small
store, Bruno and his young associate are caught during a chase
with the police. Transformed by his newly discovered sense
of responsibility to his son, Bruno steps forward and takes
responsibility for the crime and lands in prison, whereas
his young partner goes free.
