The Dardenne brothers’ restraint and resolute refusal to moralize about their easily condemnable protagonist open [The Child] up to being a compelling reflective exercise on the limits of redemption.

| Aug 25, 2023

Their depiction of the bleak conditions provides them a certain credibility, but then the filmmakers largely turn their backs on the implications of those conditions.

| Feb 14, 2021

Further cements the reputation of the Dardennes as innovative and essential filmmakers.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 13, 2020

L'Enfant deals in matters of (organized) crime and punishment without compromising its emotional acuity or spiritual purity.

| Apr 6, 2020

A very weak film, without any interest. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Jun 28, 2019

The ghastly straightforwardness of the proposition itself makes a thrilling start, but the complications that follow result in a film which rivals Deliverance in terms of mounting tension.

| Feb 3, 2018

L'Enfant shows a world that remains under the radar for most people, yet proves that growing up - however long it takes - is anything but child's play.

| Sep 26, 2017

Another terrific, ultra-realistic family drama fom the talented Dardenne brothers, winner of Cannes Film Fest top prize.

| Original Score: A- | Jun 9, 2011

A masterpiece

| Aug 30, 2009

Although "L'Enfant" won the coveted Palme d' Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, it is a grossly disappointing movie.

| Original Score: C- | Apr 15, 2009

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2008

Unfolding in real time on the scruffy working-class streets of industrial Belgium, this harrowingly intense odyssey charts Bruno's desperate search for redemption.

| Nov 1, 2007

Adequate, to be sure, but far from extraordinary.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 21, 2007

It doesn't need a lot of dialogue. It is able to deliver its message in almost purely cinematic terms.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 17, 2007

A film about roads and cell phones, decaying buildings and people who ought to be budding, indifference masked by buffoonery, the belief that money just floats around.

Full Review | Nov 11, 2006

An exploration of the existence of morality -- where does it come from, especially in a world as cold as what's presented here?

| Original Score: 8/10 | Sep 6, 2006

Un baldazo de realidad que confirma a los hermanos Dardenne como dos sensibles observadores de personajes marginales.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 30, 2006

It's a thin story and the film is unremarkable in cinematic terms, except for the tension that the Dardennes manage to maintain, thanks to top performances from Jérémie Renier and Déborah François

| Aug 19, 2006

"L'Enfant" follows in their fierce and unsparing tradition, a tale of a destitute young couple under extraordinary pressure from without and within.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 30, 2006

Absolutely terrific.

| Jun 24, 2006