Review: Le silence de Lorna (2008)

[Steve Rhodes]

LORNA'S SILENCE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2009 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****):  ** 1/2

Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) faces a problem that few wives complain about.  Her 
husband Claudy (Jeremie Renier) refuses to beat her, even when she begs him 
to do it.  Lorna's pleading to her husband for violent action turns out to 
be an act of kindness to him.

In LORNA'S SILENCE (LE SILENCE DE LORNA), by brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre 
Dardenne (THE CHILD), this request for spousal abuse makes sense, since the 
story is about a marriage scam.  A criminal named Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione) 
hired Lorna, an Albanian, to marry Claudy, a Belgian, so that she could 
become a legal citizen of Belgium.  This was done so that Fabio could obtain 
a bride for a wealthy Russian who wants to become Belgian.

Of course, before Lorna can marry the Russian, she must first get out of her 
marriage to Claudy.  A heroin junkie who keeps trying to kick his habit, 
Claudy married Lorna in the first place as a way to make money since Fabio 
paid him.  Out of compassion, Lorna would like a quick divorce, hence the 
fake spousal abuse claim, rather than Fabio's preferred way for her marriage 
to end.  He had chosen Claudy because he was a junkie and therefore likely 
to O.D. soon.

Once you understand the outline of the story, there is remarkably little to 
keep your attention, except for the outstanding acting by Dobroshi in the 
lead role.  She is completely believable.

A subplot concerns a snack shop that Lorna and her boyfriend Sokol (Alban 
Ukaj) want to purchase with the money she plans on making from the marriage 
scam.  But it, like the rest of the narrative, is padded with way too many 
scenes of little consequence.

Slow and plodding, the movie still manages to keep you interested in where 
it is headed.  The ending, however, is completely unresolved and borderline 
bizarre.

LORNA'S SILENCE runs 1:45.  The film is in French and Albanian with English 
subtitles.  It is rated R for "brief sexuality/nudity, and language" and 
would be acceptable for teenagers.

The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 7, 2009. In 
the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Cinemark 
theaters and the Camera Cinemas.

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