Lorna's Silence

Tense, discomfort-making drama-thriller from France about a young woman's involvement with a criminal ring which assists illegal immigrants by arranging citizenships for them through sham marriages and other means. The film is carried by Arta Dobroshi as Lorna, who is in every single scene, and considering the film's predilections for naturalism and the eliding of anything at all expositional, she's got a hell of a lot to carry. It's also a major feat that you relate to her so differently during different stretches of the film. She seems by turns unkind, morally concerned, resourceful, foolish, brave, naive, righteous, etc.

The principal situation concerns the ring's exploitation of a heroin junkie for arranged marriage purposes, as they know that he won't run off on Lorna. But when he decides one night that he's going to get clean, the threat of his independance spooks the crims. Things turn ugly and Lorna enters into a series of ongoing moral and practical perils.

The film's demanding style probably obscures important plot points more than it should. I was able to follow 99% of it, but in a post-film conversation I discovered that one thing I hadn't understood at the time had been very important. In common with No Country For Old Men, this is a largely excellent film, but perhaps one with a streak of unnecessary unhelpfulness about it.