Le Fils (2002)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

Film Review

The Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, follow their critical successes La Promesse and Rosetta with this similarly bleak portrait of human relationships, inter-generational conflict and social exclusion.  Le Fils has the sparse, minimalist style which has become the Dardenne's trademark, a style which skilfully evokes the profound sense of personal crisis and isolation experienced by the film's protagonists.

The wobbly, hand-held camera work adds a palpable sense of disorientation and uncertainty, but is an artistic device which makes watching the film a very taxing - indeed painful - experience.  To avoid succumbing to severe motion sickness this reviewer was unable to watch the film through from start to finish without stopping the video recorder five times and taking some fresh air.

Film Synopsis

Olivier is a carpentry instructor at a vocational training centre that assists in the rehabilitation of convicted criminals.  One day, his boss asks if he will take on a teenager who appears to be keen to take up woodworking as a profession.  After giving the matter some thought, Olivier declines, saying there are no spare places in his workshop at the present time.  Consequently, the adolescent, Francis, ends up having to take up welding instead.  Almost immediately, Olivier regrets his decision and begins to develop an inexplicable interest in the taciturn young man.  It transpires that Francis has just been released from a juvenile offenders' institution and so could potentially be a very dangerous individual.  The carpenter's curiosity rapidly develops into an all-consuming obsession as he starts following Francis about, from his place of work, across town, even to the place where he resides.  What is the cause of the strange fascination that Olivier has for the teenager he has apparently never encountered before?  He is convinced that there is something to connect them, something terrible.  His suspicions turn out to be well-founded...