Lorna's Silence (2008) Le silence de Lorna (original title)

Directors:

Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Luc Dardenne

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Dardenne (written by) &
Luc Dardenne (written by)

Release Date:

27 August 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Sokol and Lorna, two Albanian emigrants in Belgium, dream of leaving their dreary jobs to set up a snack bar...

Plot Keywords:

Money | Albanian | Junkie | Bar | Belgium

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Arta Dobroshi	...	Lorna
Jérémie Renier	...	Claudy Moreau
Fabrizio Rongione	...	Fabio
Alban Ukaj	...	Sokol
Morgan Marinne	...	Spirou
Olivier Gourmet	...	L'inspecteur
Anton Yakovlev	...	Andrei
Grigori Manoukov	...	Kostia
Mireille Bailly	...	Monique Sobel
Stéphanie Gob	...	Nurse
Laurent Caron	...	Commissaire
Baptiste Somin	...	Morgue Attendant
Alexandre Trocky	...	Doctor
Cédric Lenoir	...	Bank Attendant
Cécile Boland	...	Female Doctor
Serge Larivière	...	Pharmacist
Philippe Jeusette	...	Locksmith
Sophie Leboutte	...	Claudy's Mother
François Sauveur	...	Claudy's Brother
Christian Lusschentier	...	Male Nurse in Emergency Room
Stéphane Marsin	...	Dealer
Laurence Cordonnier	...	Bank Assistant
Anne Gerard	...	Woman at Funeral
Annette Closset	...	Nurse at Gynecology
Isabelle Dumont	...	Cleaning Women's Boss
Patrizia Berti	...	Police Woman
Leon Michaux	...	Policeman in Plainclothes
Alao Kasongo	...	Receptionist at Emergency Room
Claudy Delfosse	...	Micky
Faruque Ahmed	...	Cashier at Telephone Shop
Marie-Ange Pougin	...	Colleague at Cleaning Company

Directed by
Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Luc Dardenne

Writing credits
Jean-Pierre Dardenne		(written by) (as Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne) &
Luc Dardenne		(written by) (as Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne)

Produced by
Olivier Bronckart	....	line producer
Rémi Burah	....	co-producer
Jean-Pierre Dardenne	....	producer
Luc Dardenne	....	producer
Sabine de Mardt	....	associate producer
Denis Freyd	....	producer
Stefano Massenzi	....	associate producer
Christoph Thoke	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Alain Marcoen

Film Editing by
Marie-Hélène Dozo

Production Design by
Igor Gabriel

Costume Design by
Monic Parelle

Makeup Department
Milou Sanner	....	hair stylist
Nathalie Tabareau	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Thomas Alfandari	....	post-production supervisor
Paul Bogaty	....	unit manager
Philippe Groff	....	unit production manager
Delphine Tomson	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean-François Ravagnan	....	second assistant director
Caroline Tambour	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Julie Brenta	....	sound editor
Nicolas Cantin	....	sound mixer: second unit
Philippe Charbonnel	....	assistant sound mixer
Jean-Pierre Duret	....	sound recordist
Thomas Gauder	....	sound re-recording mixer
Julien Sicart	....	boom operator
Philippe van Leer	....	foley artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Tanguy Delhez	....	electrician
Amaury Duquenne	....	assistant camera
Laurent Van Eijs	....	electrician

Casting Department
Eol Çashku	....	casting executive: Balkans

Editorial Department
Raphaëlle Dufosset	....	digital dailies colorist: Eclair
Tristan Meunier	....	first assistant editor

Other crew
Jean-Yves Dupuis	....	production administrator
Philippe Groff	....	location scout
Marika Piedboeuf	....	script supervisor

Thanks
Henry Ingberg	....	in memory of

Production Companies

• Les Films du Fleuve (presents)
• Archipel 35 (co-production)
• Lucky Red (co-production)
• Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF) (co-production) (as RTBF Télévision belge)
• arte France Cinéma (co-production) (as ARTE France Cinéma)
• WDR / Arte (co-production) (as ARTE/WDR)
• Gemini Film (in association with)
• Mogador Film (in association with)
• Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Communauté Française de Belgique (support)
• Télédistributeurs Wallons (support)
• Eurimages (support)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (with the support of)
• Le Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral de Belgique (with the support of)
• Programme MEDIA de la Communauté Européenne (with the support of)
• Région Wallone (with the support of)
• Soficinéma 3 (in association with)
• Tax Shelter ING Invest de Tax Shelter Productions (with the support of)
• i2i Media Programme (with the support of)

Distributors

• Diaphana Films (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (2009) (Czech Republic) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Bitters End (2009) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Cinéart (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Distribution Company (2009) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Piffl Medien (2008) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Seven Films (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2009) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Xenix Filmdistribution (2008-2009) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep (AVRO) (2012) (Netherlands) (TV)
• Argentina Video Home (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Cinéart (2009) (Belgium) (DVD)
• E1 Entertainment (2009) (Canada) (DVD)
• Film1 (2009) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Imovision (2008) (Brazil) (all media)
• Lucky Red (2009) (Italy) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Twin Pics (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• good movies! (2009) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Le silence de Lorna" - Belgium (original title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brief sexuality/nudity, and language

Runtime:

USA:105 min | France:105 min

Country:

Belgium | France | Italy | Germany

Language:

French | Albanian | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Ireland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Sweden:11 | USA:R | Australia:MA | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | UK:15 | South Korea:15 | Chile:14

Filming Locations:

Liège, Wallonia, Belgium

Company:

Les Films du Fleuve

Trivia:

Before being cast as Lorna, the only words Arta Dobroshi knew in French were the days of the week.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The Lovely Bones/The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus/The White Ribbon (#2.1)" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Since You're Back In Town

The exhilaration of someone growing before our eyes

The Dardenne Brothers have a habit of immersing us in the muck of life, then casually reminding us that, in case we forgot, we are surrounded by beauty. Their latest film, Lorna's Silence, is full of the trials of conflicted humanity with all too visible surface scars hiding its true nature. Set in the Belgian city of Liege, Lorna, an Albanian immigrant, is eager to realize her dream of owning a snack shop together with her boyfriend Sokol (Alban Ukaj), a long-distance truck driver. In order to pursue this goal, she has paid the sleazy mob-connected Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione) to arrange a marriage with a Belgian heroin addict, Claudy (Jérémie Renier), in exchange for Belgian citizenship.

After divorcing Claudy, Lorna's plan is to marry again, this time to a Russian mobster (Anton Yakovlev) so he can get his own papers. Luc Dardenne says that the idea for the film came from a social worker who told them about an incident in which her brother, a junkie, was offered a huge sum of money by the Albanian mafia to enter into a paper marriage with an Albanian prostitute. She would then divorce him for another wad of cash and be free to marry a member of the Albanian mafia, both becoming Belgian citizens in the process.

The early images are all about money. From the opening scene where bills are being counted, money is constantly being handed over, counted, refused, or buried in the ground. The cold expression on Lorna's face and her abruptness in conversation tells us almost immediately that the marriage is a fake. Lorna ignores Claudy's almost pathetic neediness while greed pervades the atmosphere. She fakes being physically abused by Claudy in order to secure evidence for a quickie divorce but Claudy is unwilling or unable to hurt her. In a scene marked by ghoulish humor, she slams herself into a door and bangs her head against a wall to fill her body with bruises.

Things become complicated, however, when Claudy vows to kick his drug habit and Lorna begins to care for him, resisting Fabio's attempts to eliminate him via a drug overdose. Dobroshi delivers an outstanding performance, as does Renier who has become one of the Dardennes' most confident regulars. Though the film is more plot-driven and the camera-work less oppressively intimate than some of the brothers' earlier films, Lorna's Silence is nonetheless a gripping, powerful drama, full of searing insight into the human condition. What is most important is not the story or the movement of the camera but the continuity of the theme of the awakening of conscience.

Just when we feel that the characters have no place to go but down, the Dardennes tear us away suddenly from our addiction to the physical and hurl us into a world of tenderness and infinite possibility. As Lorna senses that she is suddenly at risk, she seems to break through the cycle of futile actions that have marked her life and, even in the mundane task of gathering wood to build a fire, we sense the exhilaration of someone growing before our eyes. As the Dardennes invite us to step into a bigger world, we hear the closing reverie of Beethoven's other-worldly Piano Sonata No. 32 reminding us that we are tuned into what the Quaker poet Thomas Kelly has called "the silence which is the source of all sound".