“ACTING IS NOT THE SAME AS MIMICKING AN ATTITUDE”

After a demanding schedule of official business regarding their honorary doctorate, film makers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne took the time to endure many questions from cinephiles during a conversation session. The Laboratory for Education and Society (K.U.Leuven), the Centre for Educational Policy and Innovation (K.U.Leuven), the Department of Theory and History of Education (University Barcelona) and Cinema Zed organised this discussion as the kick-off to a series of workshops regarding “Film as exercise of thought and public gesture”.

Professors Jan Masschelein (K.U.Leuven) and Jorge Larrosa (University Barcelona) initiated the question round, followed by audience members eager to ask the Dardenne brothers about their work.

Seeing that the film makers received their honorary doctorate partly for the realistic way they depict stories, an interesting start to the conversation was how they achieve this in fictional movies. The directors emphasized that careful, continuous gesturing is key for accurate scenes. In order to accomplish this, numerous on-set rehearsals give the directors as well as the actors the chance to experiment with different emotional angles, the location and cinematography. Therefore, actors do not just mimic attitudes but develop into actual characters. According to the Dardenne brothers, film imagery must be seen as a double present: a combination of actors’ traits as well as the director’s vision.
Another main aspect of their realistic storytelling is the fact that characters always respond to different experiences. Occurring plot events trigger certain reactions, making the film into a quest and exercise of thought. The necessity to uncover solutions is a universal human given, making Dardenne films appealing to large audiences.

Obviously not only content is vital to a successful film. Even the most powerful events only work on screen when they are displayed in a manner that engrosses audiences. In this regard, the Dardennes typically play with proximity. By either creating or eliminating spatial and emotional distance between the characters and the spectators, they create a diverse construction of attachment.

Finding the correct pace and rhythm to showcase the complex interaction between attitudes, content and distance is of utmost importance. This Belgian directing duo combines accurate gestures with shots that are actions themselves to complete the story they want to tell.
Whilst explaining their specific methods during the conversation, the Dardenne brothers were clearly excited and flattered by the interest towards their work. Their passionate and intuitive approach to film making is not only present in the actual movies they deliver but apparent from the way they verbalize them. They advocate the magnitude of portraying harsh humanistic subjects to encourage awareness towards these issues - an approach that is promising in times where universal aid is of paramount significance. |