L'Enfant (The Child)

L'Enfant (The Child) is a 2005 Belgian film. It won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

It reminds me a bit of Pickpocket in some of its subject material; but L'Enfant is more emotionally charged, perhaps because of the presence of the newborn baby. This film is horrifying.

trailer:



This movie is on the Arts and Faith list of top 100 most spiritually significant films, where they call it "a subtle parable about tests of conscience and character in a punishing world". Rolling Stone calls it "a forceful, impassioned and unsparing triumph". Slant Magazine closes by saying, "the film is nothing short of a miracle". Bright Lights Film Journal says it "counts as among the very best in contemporary cinema." Roger Ebert concludes with this: "Here is a film where God does not intervene and the directors do not mistake themselves for God. It makes the solutions at the ends of other pictures seem like child's play." Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 86%.