"The Kid with a Bike" / Le Gamin au velo (2011)

The realistic movies of the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the former aged 60, the latter 58, have been winning prizes for 15 years now, including two Palmes d'Or at Cannes. They've established their own particular geographical area (largely working-class small towns in post-industrial, French-speaking Belgium) in which they explore a familiar series of themes and situations that inevitably arise from this milieu – broken families, alcoholism, unemployment, conflict with and exploitation of immigrants. Their elliptical, carefully observed films dig deeper and find new things to say each time they put their hands to the plough, and The Kid With a Bike (aka Le Gamin au vélo) sees them in good form, if somewhat short of their very best.
  1. The Kid With A Bike (Le Gamin Au Velo)
  2. Production year: 2011
  3. Country: Rest of the world
  4. Cert (UK): 12A
  5. Runtime: 87 mins
  6. Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
  7. Cast: Cecile De France, Fabrizio Rongione, Jeremie Renier, Thomas Doret
  8. More on this film
The title has probably intentional echoes ofBicycle Thieves and the Dardennes' roots in Italian neo-realism, and the kid is the ginger-haired, fiery-tempered 11-year-old Cyril Catoul (Thomas Doret), whose thoughts are never far away from his bike. His single, dispirited father dumps him in a children's home, taking his own and Cyril's bike with him. Cyril can't believe his father has sold the bike. When he gets it back it's stolen twice, the second time bringing him into the orbit of a local gang led by a suave teenager of immigrant parentage who glories in the nickname of Wes, derived from a character in the sci-fi horror movie Resident Evil: Extinction.
There are always touches of Christian hope and Bressonian redemption in a Dardenne film, and along the way, in what seems an act of providence, Cyril finds a loving protector in the form of Samantha, a hairdresser (the plausibly beautiful Cécile De France, the first well-known actor to work with the brothers). She takes him in, puts up with his tantrums and restless violence, gives up her good-looking lover for him, protects him from jail and provides unconditional love. In the absence of any other explanation we're left to assume that such altruism is to be found in this world, and that the term "decency" can naturally attract the adjective "human". The ending is somewhat contrived and forced, but not false, and there's a moving moment when Cyril and Samantha, riding beside a canal one sunny day, exchange bicycles.
...
Like the Dardennes' 1999 film Rosetta, it is about the desperation and vulnerability that results in being ceaselessly and restlessly on the move: Cyril is forever running, either running away from his tormentors or running towards someone or something he believes will provide hope. The film is unafraid of emotion, unafraid of plunging into basic human ideas: the need for trust, and the search for love.
The Dardenne brothers revive the memory of De Sica's 1948 classic Bicycle Thieves with their latest work – as well, of course, as the memory of their own previous films. Where De Sica's father and son wander all over town with their bicycle, which gets stolen, the Dardennes' son wanders all around looking for his dad, and for his bicycle, which gets stolen. And just as in De Sica's film, the situation is so chaotic it doesn't occur to anyone to lock the bike, or recommend locking it. This is a heartfelt, boldly direct film composed in the social-realist key signature of C major, revisiting the film-makers' classic themes of parenthood, trust and love. It gets a lot of storytelling accomplished in its brief running time, although the directors gloss over the realities of criminal assault. Newcomer Thomas Doret gives a very good performance as Cyril, a 10-year-old in care who is obsessed with the idea that his errant dad Guy (Jérémie Renier) is keeping his bike for him, and still wants to be with him. In fact, this irresponsible deadbeat just wants to be rid of the child. Obsessively, heartbreakingly, Cyril disregards all the evidence that his father doesn't love him. A kindly hairdresser called Samantha (Cécile de France) takes a miraculous shine to Cyril and agrees to take him for weekends, but the lack of a father figure means that Cyril falls for the insidious charm of a local drug-dealer.

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