Synopsis

Bruno and Sonia are a young couple living on welfare and petty theft in the outskirts of Liege. After Sonia gives birth to their son, Jimmy, Bruno sells the baby through a black-market adoption scheme for quick money. Horrified by Sonia's reaction, he tries to reverse the deal, but the consequences of his impulsive decision push him toward desperation, crime, and a painful reckoning with fatherhood.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film won the 2005 Palme d'Or at Cannes, giving its filmmaking team a second victory six years after winning for Rosetta.

• The story reportedly began with an image seen during production of an earlier film: a young woman repeatedly walking through Seraing while pushing a stroller containing a sleeping baby, with the child's absent father suggesting the central idea.

• Twenty-three babies were used during filming because Jimmy is present throughout much of the movie. A doll, nicknamed "Jimmy Crash," replaced the babies during the dangerous moped sequence.

• Much of the film was shot in Seraing, the industrial Belgian suburb where the filmmakers had spent part of their childhood. Several locations had also appeared in La Promesse, although the camera positions were changed.

• The film was made after several weeks of rehearsals. The process was intended to help the performers discover the characters' behavior without exhausting the scenes before shooting.

• L'Enfant marked Deborah Francois' feature-film debut.

• Belgium selected the film as its submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not receive an Oscar nomination.