'The Silence of Lorna', directed by Palme d'Or-winning duo the Dardenne brothers picked up the award for Best Screenplay at Cannes in 2008. Lorna, an Albanian immigrant, contracted a fake marriage with Claudy to obtain Belgian citizenship. However, she is in a relationship with Sokol. Desperate to own her own business, she is approached by a Russian mobster with the offer of another marriage in return for cash. But this would mean getting rid of Claudy. It’s only then that Lorna realizes she has feelings for him. Like their earlier Palme d’Or-winning ‘The Child’ (2005), Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s riveting drama unfolds in a universe where morality is compromised by economic necessity and the difficult act of making one’s way through a brutal and cruelworld. Displaying all the elements of a thriller whilst never delving into generic conventionsto the point that finely nuanced characterisation is obscured by plot, the brothers draw outsuperb performances from Arta Dobroshi as Lorna and regular Dardenne cast member Jérémie Renier as Claudy.