Themes:
This film follows two central characters, Bruno and Sonia who have just given birth. We start off seeing Sonia all alone with her new infant wandering around the streets of what looks like a working class neighborhood. She then finds the father of the child Bruno, and shows him the child she just gave birth too. He is hardly concerned with the baby and quickly moves on to his next venture of panhandling for money. This theme is repeated throughout the movie. Bruno is presented with something that is important and requires responsibility on his part and he brushes it away to focus on petty activities to fill his time. The point-of-view in this film is of a third party bystander for the first half, although not a real person the camera creates this persona in order for us to get to know the couple. The camera mainly follows Bruno for the second half of the film. This helps to add a sense of detachment from the couple. It is honestly as if we are suppose to see Bruno through a lens and just watch what he decides to do. The film is shot with a handheld camera and looks like we are constantly following Bruno. The shot is almost always focused on Bruno and rarely on the people they are speaking with. This allows us to understand Bruno’s struggle in an unbiased way. By unbiased I mean, without the added effect of looking at the story from his point-of-view, without us interacting with the characters. We are able to watch this character go about his daily life, but he has been filmed. This movie’s intention was not to intentionally evoke an emotion but to understand the whole story of a character. To understand that Bruno has made a decision and to understand how he deals with these decisions. There is also no music in the film, which adds again to idea that we are simply looking in at the lives of a couple and we are not there to make judgements. This camera work allows us to gain knowledge into a relationship and then follow Bruno once he has made a selfish decision on behalf of the couple. It is as if we follow the couple based on how the relationship works. At first we get to see both characters equally, it is a shared experience possibly at first. Then once Bruno makes the decision for both of them to sell their child, we only follow him around to see how will make up for this decision and become responsible for the couple as a whole.
Another part of this film is the symbolism we see throughout the whole movie. The title of the movie is L’enfant which means the child in French. One might initially think that the movie is going to be about the child that was born to Bruno and Sonia, but in the reality of the movie the child is referring to Bruno. He has all of the characteristics of a child. He has zero impulse control when it comes to spending money, but he flees from responsibility when it comes to finding a job, as well as being a parent. Since he makes such impulsive decisions he is unable to deal with the consequences. When he sold his newborn for money because he thought that would solve his financial issues and make sonia happy is was ill-prepared to deal with what happened next. Bruno has no fore-sight of how his actions will effect others and when he gets in trouble he is immediately regretful. Bruno also hangs out with a gang of young teens who help him steal money. All of these traits are synonymous with children. Their intentions are not bad but they are unable to handle the consequences of their actions. In fact, the role of the child is only there to help bring out and compare to, the identity of Bruno.
Scene Analysis: (30:13-39:00)
This is the scene where we see Bruno selling his child. This is a very important scene for a couple of reasons. First, the most obvious, its when the child was sold, but the more important reason, is we get to see how Bruno behaves when selling his child.
At first we see Bruno offering to take the child for a walk while Sonia stands in line for financial loans. Bruno brings the child to a back alley where he had just made an arrangement with someone to sell the child. But as Bruno waits we see him throwing rocks and jumps off the side of the building. This is a massive indication of Bruno’s lack of maturity. He is not focused on the quite serious business deal he just made, rather he is bored and just trying to pass the time without thinking about what is going to happen next. He seems almost unaffected by this decision.
Next Bruno is in the house where he will trade his child for money. At no point in time is Bruno faced with the reality of what he has done. He is allowed to continue his careless decision because he is not forced to interact with the people who are taking his child. He simply leaves the baby in one room and goes to another to wait. Once he returns he finds a wad of cash. He seems a little nervous throughout the whole transaction but his worries are quickly quelled once he has money again.
The end of the scene is the most important part. Up until this point Bruno has made very selfish decisions and has yet to face any consequences. He has thought he is in the clear and he has actually done something helpful for the couple. But once Sonia returns to their hide-out by the river he is quickly faced with what he has done. This part of the scene is important for two reasons. The first is we get to see Bruno react to what he has done. It is evident that Bruno does not think about others when he makes decisions, so when he hurt a person he thinks he loves, it is distressing for him. Second, this is when the camera shot switches from watching the couple in real time and its subjective tense, to solely following Bruno. This is important because this switching in camera shot signifies to the audience that Bruno is starting to recognize his faults. The shot continues to follow Bruno as if to see what he will do next. How will Bruno right this wrong he has done to Sonia? The camera is almost like a parent figure who is quietly watching to see how Bruno will make up for this mistake.