Jamie passion and passionfruit!

You don’t go to a Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne film for a laugh. They are bleak glances at the underclass in Europe, in particular Belgium and how life for the poor leads to some alienating experiences.  This time we have Lorna, played by Arta Dobroshi who as an Albanian marries drug addict Claudy (the excellent Jérémie Renier) to get Belgian citizenship and be able to buy a bar with her boyfriend.  Her marriage is more than she bargained for as Claudy decides to go clean and clings to her more while at the same time the mafia boss who sets the deal up wants Claudy out of the scene and Lorna widowed so she can marry a rich Russian who also wants the Belgian citizenship that she now has and will pay so she can start her business.  Lorna keeps going until things start to give and her feelings become involved. Can she avoid this sequence of events or is the only way that she and her absent guest worker boyfriend can get their dream?  This is a film about the power of money and the price you pay to get things emotionally as well as physically. And the collusion of the developed countries and the financial markets in allowing this sort of scenario to arise and in fact be shockingly common. It may not be their best film but I liked the way the characters develop during the movie and how we get to change our opinions about Lorna and Claudy during the story.  Dobroshi does a great job in the lead role and the screenplay and direction maintains the high standards and quiet strength of the brothers.

* * * * +