|
Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
LORNA’S
SILENCE The newest import from the Dardenne Brothers is as sparsely plotted as their previous works. Again, their signature vérité roving camera doggedly follows a working-class protagonist in an overcast setting through long takes (with no intercutting or musical score). Because of their award-winning art-house credentials, it would be easy to overlook the directors’ accomplishments as a star-making machine. Thirteen years ago, Jérémie Renier, at age 14, debuted in La Promesse, and now has worked with everyone from François Ozon to Olivier Assayas. Déborah François made her debut as Renier’s 17-year-old co-star in L’Enfant, and is now a leading actress in her own right. Expect the same trajectory for actress Arta Dobroshi. With close-cropped hair—like a more approachable Nastassia Kinski, circa 1982—Lorna first appears to be casually elegant, even when she’s dressed a little trashy: tight red jeans, leather jacket with a faux-fur collar, and a purplish leopard-print top—an appropriate Madonna/whore contradictory combination. Beneath her demureness and delicate features, there’s a harsh determination that surfaces. In the film’s sole sex scene (a Dardenne first), Lorna deliberates, if not calculates, her every move. Dobroshi balances subtlety (to the point of being enigmatic) and boldness. Hailing from Kosovo, the actress had to learn, in two months, French for the role. Initially, the plot resembles a film noir set in almost any big city, except everything here is out in open in broad daylight. Lorna’s married to a junkie, Claudy (Renier, again), who’s trying to go cold turkey. He’s not answering the phone call from his dealer, and he remains locked in their one-bedroom apartment, where he and Lorna sleep in separate beds. She paid him to marry her to gain Belgian citizen status, and now that her papers are in order, her cachet has risen. A local mobster, Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione, another Dardenne regular), has already lined up another marriage for her, to a Russian ready with the cash down payment. With that money, Lorna plans to open a snack bar with her actual boyfriend, a trafficker of sorts. Now all she has to do is find the right legal excuse to divorce Claudy, but Fabio wants to speed up the new transaction even more—he briskly informs her that Claudy will, at any time, OD. It’s up to the viewer to pick up the inferences and the details—it only later becomes clear that Lorna has emigrated from Albania. In some ways, the film’s all about the unfolding action; Lorna’s constantly on the move. Because the script doesn’t pander to expectations, its fascination lies in not knowing what direction she’s heading. Even until the last scene, her agenda remains a bit of a mystery. And of all of the directors’ films, this one comes closest to being a low-key thriller. However,
the ending doesn’t fully satisfy, and not only because of the tense and
twisting build-up. Unlike the Dardennes’ earlier films, there’s less of
an epiphany or a sense of inevitability. Considering the camera is in
Lorna’s face most of the time, it may be disappointing to some that she
still remains a puzzle. On the other hand, the lingering mystery is one
of the film’s strongest points—Lorna’s Silence is one of the few
films in current release which left me wanting more.
Kent Turner
|
