Although we advertised this film as French, it was shot in Belgium. The brothers Dardenne, who wrote, produced and directed are Belgians, as are the two stars Thomas Doret and Cécile De France, who played Cyril and Samantha. So Belgium has produced much more than just moules-frites, chocolate and beer.
There's an interview with the Dardennes on YouTube, which gives an interesting insight to their film-making process, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY7_5vc_Mk8. Story-lines develop gradually and they seem to do a lot of detailed rehearsal and role-play, reminiscent of Mike Leigh?
The delicious music was a bit of Ludwig van – as Alex DeLarge would have been able to tell you. It was from Adagio un poco mosso from Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73, performed by Alfred Brendel and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink.
We had a good set of feedback sheets – including quite a few suggestions for next season's programme. You can see the suggestions if you follow the link on the blog. And you can add more suggestions there or send them by replying to our emails. The score was 81%, and the comments are here:
| A | Sensitive & moving evocation of rejection & the need for love & affection. |
| A | |
| A | |
| A | VERY MOVING. |
| A | |
| A | |
| A | Excellent film. Samantha was a saint. |
| A | Mesmerising, got totally involved – the fine line between success and disaster is a good person. |
| A | Rather abrupt ending but appropriate really. A poignant film with a realistic storyline. V. interesting all the way through. |
| A | An absorbing drama that held the audience in silence throughout. |
| A | Excellent portrayal of Cyril. Brought home the lives of children like that. Samantha also played a good part. A realistic film. |
| A | Excellent. |
| A | Glad he got up and went back to the BBQ. |
| A | Triomphe de l'esprit humain contre les difficultés de la société. Suggest “AMOUR” for next programme . Worth seeing again. |
| A | Excellent performances. Moving. |
| B | Excellent acting. Story not entirely credible. |
| B | A child needs the love of his parents abandoned he is lost and rebels against everyone as he is unhappy but when someone stands by him and shows him love he can become a better adjusted child. This portrayed life for some children these days. Sadly. |
| B | |
| B | |
| B | |
| B | |
| B | Thought provoking |
| B | Good film. Truthful and realistic story in the current family breakdown situations. |
| B | Very real |
| B | The sad story of an unlikely relationship between a hairdresser and a very mixed-up young man. |
| B | Super music |
| B | Very moving story, beautifully filmed and acted. |
| B | |
| B | What a tough kid! A good little actor. Reminded me of some characters I've met teaching in school. |
| B | Hard to watch painful. Samantha was an angel. |
| B | St. Samantha!! Lucky Cyril – hurray happy ending!! |
| B | |
| C | |
| C | Seemed incomplete. Plot cribbed from “Dustbin Baby”? |
| C | Samantha's eagerness to take Cyril on seemed unlikely, considering his behaviour. Ending rather abrupt. |
| C | While the facts of the story were possible, I thought the actual characters were a bit squeaky clean. Interesting the way France deals with juvenile crime. |
| C | Interesting and quite gripping film. |
| C | A good realistic and moving film. So much unspoken and yet deeply expressed. |
| C | Was it a happy ending? |
| C | I thought the young boy was good in quite a challenging role but a bit of an odd ending. |
| D | The story had many gaps in it and jumped time periods quickly to move the story on. |
| D | Didn't find the coherence in any way. |
On line:
Rotten
Tomatoes audience rating 78%:
5
Star review from Jonathan Romney in The Independent:
4
Stars – Trevor Johnston in the Radio Times:
4
Stars – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian:
A
luke-warm 3 stars from Tim Robey in the Daily Telegraph:
IMDB
7.3 out of 10:
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