The Promise Reviews

At the end of the 90’s, following their winning of the Golden Palm at the Cannes, I discovered The Dardennes brothers with ‘Rosetta’ but even though I thought it was indeed a decent drama, I can’t say I was really blown by the whole thing. And, yet, after this bumpy start, those guys would turn out to be eventualy some of my favorite directors. Indeed, after the disappointing ‘Rosetta’, I still wanted to give those guys a 2nd chance so I decided to watch their previous directing effort. And, this time, I was finally really impressed. Once again, the whole thing was really raw and realistic but the big difference was that, this time, it was completely spellbiding to behold. Indeed, not only it was socially completely relevant but I was also impressed in the depth provided to the characters and I really cared about what they were going through. For the young Jérémie Renier, it was a really impressive acting debut at only 15 years old, he would eventually have a decent career, working 3 times again with those guys (‘L’enfant’, ‘Le silence de Lorna’, ‘Le gamin au vélo’). To conclude, I thought it was a great drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the Dardennes brothers’s work.