Le Silence de Lorna

It’s virtually impossible to mistake Le Silence de Lorna as anything other than the latest effort from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, as the film is rife with precisely the sort of elements that one has come to associate with the brothers’ body of work (eg low-key storytelling, shaky camerawork, etc). The movie, which follows a young Albanian woman (Arta Dobroshi’s Lorna) as she attempts to cope with a sham marriage designed to make her a Belgian citizen, unfolds in a manner that’s admittedly impossible to anticipate, as the filmmaking siblings essentially drop the viewer into Lorna’s life with a bare minimum of exposition or set-up. There’s little doubt that the Dardenne’s penchant for doling out information in deliberate increments proves crucial in sustaining the viewer’s interest, although one can’t help but question their decision to omit a fairly significant occurrence within Lorna’s life at around the one-hour mark (we only learn about it afterwards and subsequently can’t help but fleetingly wonder if a missed reel is the culprit). Dobroshi, whose resemblance to Ellen Page borders on distracting, offers up a masterful performance that generally proves effective in smoothing over the film’s deficiencies, and while there’s ultimately not a whole lot distinguishing Le Silence de Lorna from the Dardenne’s previous kitchen-sink dramas, it’s certainly difficult to overlook the almost uncomfortably authentic vibe that’s been hard-wired into the proceedings (the strangely abrupt conclusion does leave something to be desired, however).

**1/2 out of ****