Photo of the Week
Another view of the Centre Pompidou. Photo © Darren Palmer of Paris by Photo.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
Paris Update What's New in Paris
RESTAURANT/CLUB/CAFE
Wanderlust: Finally, part of Les Docks, Cité de la Mode et Design will open to the public on June 6. Brunch on the terrace, take a yoga class, take in a concert or dance all night. 34, quai d'Austerlitz, 75013 Paris.
SHOPS
Stella Cadente: The designer of very feminine clothing and accessories has a new Paris store that's like a gold-lined tunnel. 102 boulevard Beaumarchais, 75011 Paris.
Ecolo-Chic: Pop-up store in the Marais selling ethically resourced products, from toys and design to organic wine. 90, rue des Archives, 75003 Paris.
SMOKING
A new organization, L'Union pour les Droits des Fumeurs Adultes, has been formed to lobby for the rights of French smokers
JUSTIN ON THE ROOFTOPS
Keep your eyes peeled: Justin Bieber will be filming for the Web TV program live@home in an undisclosed location on the rooftops of Paris on the evening of May 31. Click here to win a pass to the taping.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
Paris Update Flash News
CAKE THE WAY WE LIKE IT
Goodies on display at Merce and the Muse.
Nowadays, American expatriates in Paris can easily satisfy almost all their nostalgic food cravings, from hamburgers to Reese’s peanut-butter cups or Oreo cookies. Until Merce and the Muse opened in the Upper Marais, however, it wasn’t easy to find good homemade, American-style cakes. The desserts at this homey, flea-market-furnished café are not just good, they are scrumptious and original, made from owner Merce Muse’s own recipes. The other day I shared a slice of chocolate layer cake with vanilla icing and another of pistachio cake with rose icing with a friend, but in truth I wanted to eat all of both of them. 1 bis, rue Dupuis, 75003 Paris. Tel.: 09 53 14 53 04. Open Tues.-Sun. for breakfast, lunch and coffee; brunch on Sunday. Heidi Ellison
Paris Update This Week's Events
For full details about an event, click on its name to visit the official Web site (in English when available).
 Art Saint-Germain-des-Prés
>Left Bank gallery walk. Collective opening, May 31, 6pm. May 31-June 3.
Carré Rive Gauche
>Another Left Bank gallery walk, with 120 participating galleries. June 1-June 3.
Champs-Elysées Film Festival
>A new Franco-American film festival, presided over by Lambert Wilson and Michael Madsen. Various locations, Paris, June 6-12.
Chartre en Lumières
> The town of Chartres illuminates its monuments and the cathedral with colorful light installations. Through Sept. 15.
Designer's Days
>Design shops, galleries, schools and more participate in a city-wide design event. Various locations, Paris, May 31-June 4.
Festival de l'Imaginaire
> Performances by troupes from around the world, Maison des Cultures du Monde, Paris, through June 17.
Festival de Saint Denis
> Music festival featuring both stars like Sir Colin Davis and young talents; ends with a dawn performance by horse whisperer Bartabas and oud player Mehdi Haddab, Cathedral and Legion of Honor, Saint Denis, through June 30.
Festival Extensions
> Concerts, dance, films and more, various locations, Paris and Val de Marne, through May 31.
Festival International des Jardins de Chaumont-sur-Loire
>"Gardens of delights, gardens of delirium" is the theme of this year's garden festival, Chaumont-sur-Loire, through Oct. 21.
Festival Jazz à Saint-Germain-des-Prés
>Jazz acts ranging from amateur to big names like Ahmad Jamal and Yusef Lateef (together). Various locations, Paris, Through June 3.
Le Court en Dit Long
>Festival of short films. Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, June 4-9.
Nomades
>Cultural festival in the third arrondissement; art, poetry, concerts and more. Various locations, Paris, May 31-June 3.
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
>The features and short subjects entered in this category at the Cannes Film Festival shown in Paris, Forum des Images, Paris, May 31-June 10
Salon du Vin de La Revue du Vin de France
>Annual wine fair. Palais Brongniart, Paris, June 2-3
|
Le Silence de Lorna
-
Film
-
/ Drama
-
Created on Tuesday, 09 September 2008 23:00
-
Published on Sunday, 22 February 2009 21:45
-
Written by Heidi Ellison
Hard Choices
 |
| Claudy (Jérémie Renier) and his "wife" Lorna (Arta Dobroshi). |
|
With Le Silence de Lorna (Lorna’s Silence), brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made another of their morally complex films about marginalized people coping with the situations they find themselves in.
These are no hapless victims of a cruel society, however, as in many of Ken Loach’s films, but people who deal with the problems life throws at them by making choices, some of which are morally dubious or even downright criminal.
The fraternal writing/directing team knows how to gently unfold a story and keep suspense alive without taking their story in the obvious direction – just when you think you see where the story is headed, the action shifts and takes an unexpected turn.
The film jumps right in to the situation, opening on Lorna (Arta Dobroshi), a pretty (in an ordinary way) young woman who speaks French with an accent. She is being inexplicably rude to Claudy (Jérémie Renier), the frail-looking young man she shares an apartment with.
We are gradually given to understand that Lorna is an Albanian immigrant who has paid Claudy, a heroin addict, to marry her so that she can get a Belgian passport. Strung-out Claudy keeps trying and failing to go straight, while Lorna and her accomplices wait for him to OD so that she can marry a Russian man who is willing to pay large amounts of cash for a Belgian wife (why he doesn’t just pay a Belgian woman to marry him is unclear).
If Claudy doesn’t manage to die on his own, the plotters plan to help him along once he and Lorna have been married long enough to convince the Belgian authorities that their marriage is authentic. Lorna and her real boyfriend, Sokol (Alban Ukaj), plan to use her share of the money to buy a snack bar and start a new life together. Claudy, however, throws a monkey wrench into the works by getting serious about quitting drugs
To reveal any more of the plot would be to spoil the pleasure of watching this realistic film unfold, but suffice it to say that Lorna’s efforts to maintain her emotional distance from the pathetic Claudy eventually fail.
Although the film’s ending is a bit hard to swallow, it is not outside the realm of possibility.
Le Silence de Lorna is an absorbing, thought-provoking examination of the complicated interplay between exterior constraints (as an Albanian, Lorna is an illegal alien with no right to live in Belgium), the choices we make (she accepts the arrangements for the fake marriage and even the planned violence) and material, emotional and psychological factors. There are no purely good or bad guys in this film – Lorna initially goes along wholeheartedly with the plot, and even the taxi driver named Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione), who put the scheme together, has a humane side.
The acting is uniformly excellent. Renier once again portrays the kind of low-life character he excels at (he played the skuzzy skinhead who gets shot in the eye in Martin McDonagh’s excellent In Bruges and the sociopath who sells his own baby in L’Enfant, the Dardenne brothers’ award-winning 2005 film), to the point that he risks being typecast.
|
Heidi Ellison
© 2008 Paris Update
More film reviews.
Reader Reaction
Reader Reaction
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
to respond to this article (your response may be published on this page and is subject to editing).
|
