A joinery instructor at a rehab center refuses to take a new teen as his apprentice, but then begins to follow the boy through the hallways and streets.
Acting
Olivier Gourmet's neck muscles deserve their own credit.
Direction
Dardennes stick to your shoulder like guilt itself.
Cinematography
Handheld shots that breathe down your neck.
Director
Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Olivier Gourmet won Best Actor at Cannes 2002, making him the first Belgian to do so. The Dardennes wrote the role specifically for his anxious physicality.
The Dardennes never show Olivier's dead son; his absence is entirely constructed through Gourmet's body language and workshop rituals, making grief feel like manual labor.
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