The Child (L'enfant)

If you've seen the Dardenne brothers' most recent films, 'Rosetta' and 'The Son', you'll know what to expect: gritty socio-realism with a noirish nihilism running through it, like someone Bogarted the Loach. 'The Child' is the most accessible of the three, despite or probably through - managing to provide a clearer moral message by way of the disgraceful activities of its pro/antagonist Bruno, as much of a child as the baby his girlfriend places in his trust at the film's start. That's mistake number one. The depths this brat sinks to are extreme, but the whole piece still rings horribly true, affecting you long after the film ends. Worth seeing, but, as if I needed to say, probably not the best date movie. [Alec McLeod]