Gentleness, compassion and love are the keynotes of this quietly outstanding new movie from the Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, for whom I think it is a return to form after some strained melodrama in their recent work. There is such simplicity and clarity here, an honest apportioning of dignity and intelligence to everyone on screen: every scene and every character portrait is unforced and unembellished. The straightforward assertion of hope through giving help and asking for help is very powerful.
The Dardennes have again established their gold standard for social realist cinema at Cannes, and for regular attenders there is another poignant dimension – the memory of their Palme-winning film Rosetta presented at Cannes a quarter of a century ago, starring the then 17-year-old Émilie Dequenne in a very similar role to the characters here; her recent death from cancer was a great sadness.
