Like many Dardenne films (L’Enfant, The Silence of Lorna), The Kid with a Bike is about life on the fringes of Belgian society, about the struggle of innocence and optimism in the face of crushing, cynical reality. While Cyril might have found a fairy godmother in the shape of Samantha, he won’t be happy until he fills the hole left by his father’s departure. Cyril is basically just a little boy who wants to be loved. He might have been visibly hardened by what he has gone through, but he is still wide-eyed, guileless, hoping for something better. In life, however, there are people who prey on the naivety of others; when the local dealer takes Cyril under his wing, you know nothing good is going to come of it. While these themes might be familiar territory for Dardenne fans, The Kid with a Bike throws in a few stylistic curveballs to shake things up a little. Bastions of stripped-down naturalistic filmmaking,
the brothers have famously rejected musical scores in their past films. Here, however, we’re treated every so often to four bars of classical music, punctuating the narrative and underlining its key moments. “In a fairytale there has to be a development, with emotions and new beginnings,” explains Luc Dardenne. “It seemed to us that music, at certain points, could act like a calming caress for Cyril.” And that’s not the only difference. Their preference for available light sources over staged, artificial lighting has given much of their previous work a dark, murky edge. This film, however, seems somewhat ‘lighter’ than their previous work – a little more hopeful, perhaps. Crucially, The Kid with a Bike is the first Dardenne film shot in summertime. Ultimately, with all these stylistic tweaks, The Kid with a Bike has all the tension and anxious,