Critically whatever words I could use to describe the effect this movie had on me are indescribable. I usually have this feeling after seeing a film by Herzog or Varda where you can say their films are great due to the usual suspects: technique, ideology, writing, or performance. Yet films like theirs or like this one by the Dardennes I can only assume it’s trust in the subject or patience or hope. As if it’s the emotion they’ve invested into their work that surges through me.

I don’t think that amounts to any definable ‘skill’ or ‘technique’ – that kind of power comes from infusing a soul or love or something beyond what you can learn into your art. I couldn’t help but think of those job questionnaires where they ask you ‘how you’d react if a guilty criminal was set free’. After seeing this movie, which captures (not exactly tells) a moment when a carpenter has to confront that question, I can only arrive at thinking that we can only deal with it in whichever way we can. It’s a vague conclusion to a heavy topic but if you have faith in your emotions then it’s the best thing humanly possible.