Lorna is an Albanian emigrant, living in the gritty Belgian city of Liege. She’s a semi-legal person, as so many Europeans are, having used a phony marriage to gain entry. She now lives and works on the edge, employed in a n almost-menial job. Arla Dobroshi is outstanding in the role in the strong, evocative film, "Lorna’s Silence," which opens here today.
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Belgian brothers who own several major awards from the Cannes Film Festival, share writing and directing chores, and have done them seamlessly in a strong look at Europeans in a slightly uneasy relationship.
Lorna and her boyfriend, Sokol (Alban Ukaj), in search of normal lives and a portion of respectability, dream of opening a little shop. He’s a trans-Europe truck driver who stops to visit when he’s in the neighborhood; she works for a dry cleaner. She’s in Belgium because of a sham marriage to Claudy (the excellent Jeremie Renier, who often is in the Dardenne brothers’ films), a drug addict who needed the money to support his habit.
And then there’s Fabio, an Italian taxi driver and small-time criminal who arranges the marriages. He has a new client, a wealthy Russian, and wants Lorna to do his dirty work. He will manage to do away with Claudy and she will marry the Russian, with some big money to split, perhaps enough to make it possible for her and Sokol to fulfil their dream.
Of course, things are not as simple as they appear, and the Dardenne brothers, examining redemption and reward, change, mercy and a variety of other topics that often border on the religious but do not intrude, have brought together another impressive movie.
At the Plaza Frontenac
–Joe
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Each and every ‘audio visual masterpiece’ of the Dardenne’s is a highlight in today’s cinema. They respect the raw, down-to-earth and real stories and bring it as such. I’m totally into their style of film. But hey, maybe that’s because I’m Belgian myself.