La promesse (1996)

Igor and his father, Roger, are making a decent living renting apartments to illegal immigrants and sometimes working them illegally (among other scams). But when the building inspector ... See full summary »

Directors:

Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

Writers:

Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Stars:

Jérémie Renier, Olivier Gourmet, Assita Ouedraogo

16 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jérémie Renier	...	Igor
Olivier Gourmet	...	Roger
Assita Ouedraogo	...	Assita
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean-Michel Balthazar
Frédéric Bodson	...	The garage boss
Katarzyna Chrzanowska
Florian Delain	...	Riri
Hachemi Haddad	...	Nabil
Alain Holtgen	...	Le postier
Geneviève Joly-Provost	...	Geneviève
Sophie Leboutte
Rasmane Ouedraogo	...	Amidou
Norbert Rutili

Storyline

Igor and his father, Roger, are making a decent living renting apartments to illegal immigrants and sometimes working them illegally (among other scams). But when the building inspector pays a surprise visit and Amidou falls off a scaffold in his hurry to hide, things start to unravel, particularly when Igor makes a promise to the injured Amidou that ultimately exposes the different values of Igor and Roger, and of Amidou's wife, Assita.

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Plot Keywords:

ring | baby | illegal immigration | father son relationship | belgium | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Belgium France Luxembourg Tunisia

Language:

French Romanian

Release Date:

16 May 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Promessa

Filming Locations:

Liège, Wallonia, Belgium

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$21,220 (USA) (16 May 1997)

Gross:

$454,720 (USA) (25 July 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eurimages, Les Films du Fleuve, Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

An hour and 4 minutes into the film (NTSC) when Assita asks Igor to pour some water onto her hair - the sound of water hitting the ground comes before the water is actually seen hitting the ground.

User Reviews

Gritty and Uncompromising

LA PROMESSE is a coming of age story of sorts. The young teenaged protagonist works for his father, who loves him deeply. The father is sleazy exploiter of illegal aliens, and the boy is learning the trade of preying on the defenseless of society that includes theft from the elderly and extortion from the immigrants. And it seems to be suiting him just fine until he helps his father cover up a fatal accident at his construction site. The accident that did not have to be fatal, but the father does not want to risk the scrutiny of the authorities. The boy promises the dying immigrant that he will take care of the man's wife and baby. Slowly the youth begins to question his and his father's morality.

Shot in a documentary style without music score, the urban Antwerp setting as well as the story are uniformly gray and grim. Nonetheless this is an excellent film that tells a terrific moral tale to which there are no easy answers. An excellent rental.