The camera follows dark-haired beauty Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) everywhere she goes. She is a young Albanian woman who works a dreary job at a dry cleaner and dreams of opening a small café with her boyfriend, Sokol.

She turns out to be a pawn in a money-making scheme devised by a small-time hustler named Fabio. She enters into a fake marriage with heroin addict Claudy (Jeremie Renier) in order to obtain Belgian citizenship. The next step in the plan is to make Claudy’s death look like a suicide from a drug overdose.

Lorna develops a maternal form of sympathy for Claudy when he decides to get clean by checking into a hospital. She decides on an alternative way to rid herself of Claudy by opting for a fast-track divorce based on a false claim of physical abuse. She self-inflicts bruises to make it look like Claudy is a wife beater.

There is a time constraint involved because the big money will be made through her subsequent marriage to a Russian mobster desiring a Belgian passport.

Fate and conscience derail this very bleak and heartbreaking tale. This poorly structured film proceeds at a snail’s pace. It is devoid of music and a cohesive narrative. It lacks smooth transitions between acts as it abruptly jumps forward in time. There are too many loose strands and a major plot shift occurs off camera.

The police investigation of Claudy’s suspicious death is given short shrift.

Dobroshi rises above the material and gives an unforgettable performance as the heroine. She is so natural in portraying the depressing plight of her mentally unstable character, it nearly defies belief that she is merely playing a part.

This low-budget art house movie has garnered universal critical praise and was a box office hit in France. It was awarded best screenplay at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. The dialogue is in French and Albanian with English subtitles. Opening exclusively for a limited engagement at the Tivoli in Westport.

Review By:
Keith Cohen "The Movie Guy"