Lorna's Silence (2008)

Great Film overall

Absolutely the worst movie.

A Masterpiece!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I wonder if the makers of "Lorna" had that title in mind, considering the moment in another great movie when the lead actor reveals the great pain of her past life. In both cases, the focus is on the slaying of innocence. Some of the criticism of the picture, another wonderful film from the Dardenne Brothers, has pointed to a disappointing ending. I didn't find that to be the case. As we see her guilt develop, the stubborn efforts to dissolve her sham marriage with the junkie, Claudy, rather than see him killed, she recognizes their connection, an addiction, his for drugs, hers for money, both pawns in the criminal plot hatched by others. When she fails to save him, an awkward jump in the picture from him riding away on a bicycle to news of his murder, Lorna's guilt is internalized in a delusion of carrying his child, her way of having him live and salving her guilt. When the deal goes bad because of her, she knows she will be killed also. But she will fight to stay alive, not for herself, but for the life she believes she is carrying. Yes, like their other pictures, this one is something of a religious allegory, but what's wrong with that?

As usual, French Cinema scores quite well, and this movie is not exception. "Lorna's Silence" runs very well, especially the first 3/4 of the movie. We see the emotional beating the protagonist Lorna deals with as she's gotten herself in a jagged situation. The character development is well thought out, and her reactions to situations is believable and interesting. Arta Dobrowshi is magnetic on the screen. The underworld of drugs, crime, and fraud wears her down, and we witness her decline sympathetically. (spoiler) Towards the end of the movie, the dread and feeling of entrapment is tangible and clear. The only drawback for me was the resolution of the story, sort of cut-off. Still Recommended.

Le silence de Lorna (Lorna's Silence) is the latest film by the great Dardenne brothers. They are modernizing cinema of today philosophically as they are narratively. Compared to another film by the brothers Le fils (2002) Le silence de Lorna is not as experimental, but at least as good, if not better. It's their first portrait of an adult woman and they succeed incredibly well as always. The film deals with the European identity of today, inhumanity in human trafficking, and puts us in front of a social question: how can humanity or any sort of morality remain in this cruel world we live in?Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) is in her thirties living in Belgium and dreaming of a better life. She lives in an arranged marriage with a junkie, Claudy (Jérémie Renier). The man who runs the arranged marriage business, Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione) is planning to kill Claudy in hope of a better marriage deal. Fabio arranges men to marry Lorna for money so they can get a citizenship of Belgium. Le silence de Lorna deals with the subject of human trafficking; business where the price of human life isn't high. It all happens in front of our eyes but we aren't doing a thing. In the end it grows out to be a strong moral study and the influence Krzysztof Kieslowski has had on the brothers is obvious.The Dardenne brothers are well known for their minimalism which can also be seen in Lorna's Silence. It doesn't have much music in it and the dialog is marginal - a lot from little is the core of minimalism. Luc Dardenne has said that he always listens to Beethoven before starting to work and, in the end, when the credits come on we get to listen Beethoven. The brothers have said that the more you take material away the closer you get to humane experiences. Their films are filled with body language, gestures and close camera-work. The cinematography is unique and reinforces the position of a camera as an instrument for philosophy. They follow their characters closely and through that let us observe the situations they get into, the situations in which they are prisoners of. The camera let's you to get into the minds of the characters. The camera sees what the character sees, it doesn't know what happens outside of the character's world - so what has been cloaked from us?The leading themes of the story are humanity, detachment, guilt, inhumanity and the European identity of today. The subject is very current in the age we live in. As I earlier mentioned Le silence de Lorna brings up a question how humanity can survive in the world of human trafficking. All the people in the business are portrayed as inhumane and careless. Where the victim of the business (the junkie) is portrayed as innocent. The eternal battle between good and evil is just one of the references to religion. Even that the brothers are atheists they had a strong catholic upbringing which can clearly be seen in their work. God is dead in their world view but they often use Christian allegories to reconstruct new humane experiences.In the end where Fabio hears that Lorna is pregnant and won't have an abortion he wants to get rid off her. We see Lorna getting away with her baby, going into a detached house in the woods - the culmination of theme detachment. It is quite obvious that Lorna isn't really pregnant. The baby is just a symbol. It's a memory of the past; of Cloudy and how it was Lorna's fault that he got killed. The baby is actually the guilt she's carrying.A marvelous film about the loss of humanity. I just saw it in theaters today and it went straight to my top ten of the decade. This film is very energetic, the movement in it worked brilliantly and as the brothers have admitted; movement is much more important than the plot in their films. Le silence de Lorna is a thought-provoking experience about the world we live in, our concept of moral and the European identity.

The titular heroine of the Dardenne brothers latest movie is Lorna, a recent immigrant to Belgium who spends her days earning paychecks from a dry-cleaners while earning more substantial money by selling herself off as a bride to a Russian man looking to immigrate to Belgium himself. Before she can marry the Russian however, Lorna must obtain a divorce from her current husband, Claudy, a broken-down, pathetic, drug-addict who only married Lorna in order to obtain the cash to fund his habit. The relationship between the young couple is complicated. Lorna, with a boyfriend back home and another potential husband eager to obtain Belgian citizenship waiting in the wings, has no romantic attachment to Claudy. Early scenes show her disgust and impatience for her lazy, feeble husband who does little more then shoot-up, play cards and follow her around like a puppy-dog. Nevertheless she can't help but feel sympathy towards the man she is using solely to obtain her citizenship. Claudy's feelings are equally muddled. He is aware that Lorna is using him and yet is devastated when she talks about divorce. He plays on his weaknesses to illicit Lorna's sympathy and then plagues her with childish demands. Their relationship, masterfully played out by Arta Dobroshi and returning Dardenne brother favourite Jérémie Renier, is utterly, intensely fascinating. They're both the victims and the aggressors in their relationship and who you root for and who you find repulsive flips frequently from scene to scene.But the movie isn't focused on the relationship between Claudy and Lorna. As Lorna struggles to earn her money quickly she is forced to choose between protecting Claudy, whose desire to kick his drug-habit is problematic for her divorce proceedings, and her desire to protect her own small dream of owning a café with her long-distance boyfriend. Her optimism and strength are quickly torn apart when the man responsible for arranging both her marriages quickly yanks her down to reality by reminding her that she is little more then a pawn for people who want to cheat the system. The movie falls apart in the final third, the twists and turns a bit ridiculous given the slow, yet gripping, pace of the previous sections. And yet the movie is still compelling, quietly questioning a system in which people must go to such violent lengths in order to obtain simple and innocent desires. The lack of music, gritty cinematography and superb acting all lend itself to the feelings of realism that pervade the film. The Dardenne brothers make us believe in Lorna's plight, her struggle between what she feels morally is right and the silence that will enable her to live out her dream.