La Promesse (lit.?"The Promise") is a 1996 drama film by the Belgian brothers Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. The plot involves a father, Roger, who traffics and exploits illegal immigrants coming into conflict with his teenage mechanic-aspiring son, Igor, after them covering up the accidental death of one of the immigrants results in Igor trying to help out the dead man's family.
La Promesse | |
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Film poster | |
Directed by | Jean-Pierre Dardenne Luc Dardenne |
Written by | Jean-Pierre Dardenne Luc Dardenne |
Starring | Jérémie Renier Olivier Gourmet Assita Ouedraogo |
Music by | Jean-Marie Billy Denis M'Punga |
Cinematography | Alain Marcoen |
Edited by | Marie-Hélène Dozo |
Production company | Eurimages Les Films du Fleuve RTBF Samsa Film Touza Productions |
Distributed by | ARP Sélection (France) |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | Belgium France |
Language | French |
Budget | €1.5 million |
Box office | $2.8 million |
Screenplay
- Jérémie Renier as Igor
- Olivier Gourmet as Roger
- Assita Ouedraogo as Assita
La Promesse received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 95% approval rating, based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 7.8/10. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 82, based on 17 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim ".
- Belgian Film Critics Association (Belgium)
- Won: André Cavens Award for Best Film
- Nominated: Grand Prix
- César Awards (France)
- Nominated: Best Foreign Film
- Los Angeles Film Critics (USA)
- Nominated: Best Foreign Film
- National Society of Film Critics (USA)
- Won: Best Foreign Language Film
- Online Film Critics Society Awards (USA)
- Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film
- Satellite Awards (USA)
- Nominated: Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
- Valladolid Film Festival (Spain)
- Won: FIPRESCI Prize (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
- Won: Golden Spike (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)