La Promesse-DVD

La Promesse (1996), Dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne

Someone I knew said this film was "difficult", so I hunkered down and prepared to concentrate for 93 consecutive minutes. And much to my surprise, this film was very easy to stick to. It wasn't one of those films that you struggle to get through and then pat yourself on the back for watching later. It wasn't one that seems boring during and good after.

A simple story; a promise. Set in an atmosphere of deceit and betrayal, a promise is a strange and exotic thing that no one seems to understand. However, through brilliant and human storytelling, there is never any hint as to what will happen next. What will the characters choose? Watch and find out. This story unfolds completely naturally, without the mechanisms that make for cheap theater in so many films these days.

I suppose the "difficult" part of this film comes from the humanism in it. Most of the characters are extremely complex, with good and evil in them, as well as truth and lies. Choices become suspenseful because the characters don't act like movie stars. They act like people. Also, the filmmakers opt for a spare pallette of shots, leaning towards medium and extreme close-ups for the majority of the film. Feeling trapped? Well, in case you aren't yet, they aren't going to give you any music to release the tension. Not even when they roll the credits.

As a result, I'm left with only a feeling of something I just saw. A taste in my mouth. There are no lines or melodies or wondrous shots with fancy camera movements. All that is left is a boiled down story and the promise.