The dialogue about guilt between Marcel and his mother in Dostoyevski's The Brothers Karamazov inspired Belgium's filmmaking brothers, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (Falsch, Je pense à vous) to pen the screenplay for La promesse (The Promise). As a result, the finished film should be seen as a meditation on that dialogue in their opinion.
La promesse tells the story of 15-year-old Igor, who helps his father run an illegal immigrant labour network. One day, a 'black' labourer falls off the scaffold he's working on on a building site, and Igor obeys his father's orders to leave him there alone to die. But before that happens, the unfortunate immigrant makes Igor promise to look after his wife and son after he has gone.
Torn apart by his notions of filial duty and the commitment he has made to the family of the dying man, Igor is slowly forced to come to terms with the ethics and moral issues involved in the situation.
Igor runs away with the widow and child, and little by little, his growing awareness and compassion lead to a mutual commitment. As the tale unfolds, Igor loses his father but finally gains human dignity and a measure of self-respect.
"We filmed it with a broad brush, rather than a delicate one," explains Luc Dardenne, "trying to capture moments of reality which might have been lost to our production. We've chosen actors and actresses who were first and foremost faces and bodies unknown ones, and, in some cases, not even professionals.
We did this in order to attain a documentary truth which we wanted to put across."
International sales agent Jeanine Seawell, who represents La promesse, considers the story's setting in the Southern, French-speaking part of Belgium irrelevant to the wider issues raised by the film.
"It's far more universal than people think; it could have been set in contemporary France or Germany or somewhere else," she says. "Made in a very realistic, documentary-like style, it will hopefully make people think about how illegal immigrants are treated."
Christian de Schutter
Prod co: Les Films du Fleuve, Touza Productions, Samsa Film, RTBf
Prod: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Hassen Daldoul, Claude Waringo, Jacqueline Pierreux
Dir: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Scr: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Léon Michaux, Alphonse Badolo
Ph: Alain Marcoen
Art dir: Igor Gabriel
Mus: Jean-Marie Billy, Denis M'Punga with songs from Rocco Granata and Mario Tanzeri
Ed: Marie-Hélène Dozo
Cast: Jérémie Renier, Olivier Gourmet, Assita Ouédraogo
Running time: 90mins
Int sales: Seawell Films
