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

A Small Masterpiece

La Promesse is one of the best films of this decade. With its simple style and character-driven plot, one may think that the film comes from one of the Dogma 95 manifesto directors but it doesn't. The film's strengths lie in its theme of morality and responsibility and in its no-nonsense portrayal of the immigrant situation in Belgium (with reverberations reaching all across Europe). One can say that it's a coming-of-age tale--and in some ways it is--but when one thinks of the usual film categorized as such, the moniker doesn't match. Even the scene where Igor is being seduced by an older woman, while his father and his father's girlfriend look on, has no follow-up, no clumsy bedroom scene where we see Igor lose his virginity. The film makers just cut from the seduction scene in the bar to Igor the next morning back to his "job" at the dilapidated building site. Clearly, the directors are unconcerned with the staples of the "coming-of-age" genre. More precisely, I think it should be called a "coming-of-conscience" film. The final scene is at the same time heartbreaking and thought-provoking. The way they end the movie is a masterstroke because it forces the viewer to ponder what will come next, thus prompting self-reflective questions on what the viewer himself or herself would have chosen to do.