Introduction

This first part of the book looks at the work of the filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the Dardenne brothers. It builds on the existing Levinasian ethical readings of their work – such as those by Sarah Cooper (2007), Joseph Mai (2010) and Philip Mosley (2013) – to show how a performativity-led approach to their work shines a new light on their films and their relationship to Levinas. It looks at Luc Dardenne’s own comments on the inspiration the Dardennes take from Levinas’s ethics and how this inspiration informs their film style. And it argues that it is fruitful to discuss their work in terms of performativity, as this will bring out how their uses of style enable their films to perform a Levinasian responsibility for the Other and a refusal to settle for easy solutions that would close down ethical engagement. Rather, their films invite the viewer to engage ethically with the characters through the directness and subjectivity of the film style. This introductory section sets up the discussions to follow on four Dardenne films: Je Pense à Vous (1992), La Promesse (1996), Le Fils (2002) and The Kid with a Bike (2011).