Lorna's Silence
| Lorna's Silence | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster
|
|
| Directed by | Jean-Pierre Dardenne Luc Dardenne |
| Produced by | Jean-Pierre Dardenne Luc Dardenne Denis Freyd |
| Written by | Jean-Pierre Dardenne Luc Dardenne |
| Starring |
Arta Dobroshi Jérémie Renier Fabrizio Rongione |
| Cinematography | Alain Marcoen |
| Edited by | Marie-Hélène Dozo |
| Distributed by | Cinéart (Belgium) |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
105 minutes |
| Country | Belgium Italy Germany |
| Language | French Italian German |
| Budget | €4 million |
| Box office | $1.8 million |
Lorna's Silence (French: Le Silence de Lorna) is a 2008 drama film by the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. It was the winner of the 2008 LUX Prize.
Lorna, a young Albanian woman living in Belgium, is in sham marriage with a drug addict named Claudy who accepted her money to become her husband. Lorna's dream is to own a snack bar with her boyfriend, Sokol. In order to see this dream fulfilled, she agrees to have another fake marriage with a Russian man, but Claudy is in the way. Fabio, the one who orchestrated the whole plan, will not wait for Lorna and Claudy's divorce.
Initially Lorna had agreed to Fabio's plan of killing Claudy with an overdose. But Lorna is moved by Claudy's determination to stay clean, so she pleads Fabio to wait for their divorce. But Fabio does not understand why Lorna cares, and an overdose will not look suspicious, because drug addicts often relapse.
Claudy attempts to stay off of drugs by locking himself in his apartment and asking Lorna to get him medicine at the pharmacy that will help with his pains. One night, the pain becoming unbearable, and he asks Lorna to call his doctor and take him to the hospital. There, he begs Lorna to stay with him until the nurse comes. He leans against her like a child in need of protection.
In order to obtain a quick divorce, Lorna decides to hurt herself and make it look like Claudy abused her. She does not manage to convince Claudy to beat her and ends up hurting herself at the hospital and crying out for help. The nurse who looks after her agrees to act as a witness for the police report. The same day, Lorna goes to the station and fills out a report. Fabio, who seems to control everything, has her followed, and he asks her why she went to the police station. She explains that the divorce will be faster since she has found a way to make it look like Claudy is a physically abusive husband.
The next day, Claudy gets out of the hospital and goes to see Lorna at her workplace. He asks for money (Claudy has asked Lorna to carry his money for him to prevent him from using it on drugs) to buy cigarettes and to prepare a meal for when she gets back from work.
Later that night, Lorna receives a letter from the judge granting her a quick divorce. She leaves a depressed Claudy behind to let Fabio know the news. When she tells Fabio that the divorce will now only take a month, he does not look pleased. She asks him to talk to the Russians and see if they will accept the delay. A short while after, as Lorna crosses the street to enter her apartment, Fabio in his taxi honks and as she gets close, telling her that the Russian has accepted to wait.
...
Wikipedia