1 / 8
MONEY
Did you know
Shot for just $2.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
MoodPlayr · trivia#01
The Ardennes
2015 1h 33m NL
👍
6.6
SOLID
★6.6TMDB · 206
CrimeDramaThriller
Synopsis
Spoiler shield
A brutal home-jacking goes hopelessly wrong. Dave, one of the two robbers, manages to run off, leaving his brother Kenneth behind. Four years later, Kenneth is released from prison and much has changed. Dave has his life back on track and is trying to help Kenneth however possible, but is witnessing how the highly strung Kenneth tries to win back his ex-girlfriend Sylvie.
“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”
Cast
Jeroen Perceval
Dave
Veerle Baetens
Sylvie
Kevin Janssens
Kenneth
Éric Godon
Gérard
Jan Bijvoet
Stef
Peter van den Begin
Car Wash owner
Sam Louwyck
Joyce
Viviane de Muynck
Mariette
Credits
Behind the camera
- Director
- Robin Pront
- Writers
- Jeroen Perceval, Robin Pront
- Languages
- Italian, French, Dutch
- Countries
- Belgium, Netherlands
Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.
Did you know?
Fun facts 🍿
2 / 8
MONEY
Did you know
Earned back only 62% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
MoodPlayr · trivia#02
3 / 8
ERA
Did you know
Released 11 years ago.
MoodPlayr · trivia#03
4 / 8
WORLD
Did you know
Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Italian, French, Dutch.
MoodPlayr · trivia#04
5 / 8
WORLD
Did you know
International production across 2 countries: Belgium, Netherlands.
MoodPlayr · trivia#05
6 / 8
DIRECTOR
Did you know
Directed by Robin Pront, shot by Robrecht Heyvaert. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
MoodPlayr · trivia#06
7 / 8
DIRECTOR
Did you know
Original score by Hendrik Willemyns. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
MoodPlayr · trivia#07
8 / 8
DIRECTOR
Did you know
Editor Alain Dessauvage shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
MoodPlayr · trivia#08
Cinephile deep dive
The take
Robin Pront directs. Robrecht Heyvaert behind the camera. Hendrik Willemyns scores. Alain Dessauvage cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Belgium, Netherlands. Dialogue in Italian, French, Dutch.
Trivia
Things worth knowing
- 1Shot for just $2.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
- 2Earned back only 62% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
- 3Released 11 years ago.
- 4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Italian, French, Dutch.
- 5International production across 2 countries: Belgium, Netherlands.
- 6Directed by Robin Pront, shot by Robrecht Heyvaert. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
- 7Original score by Hendrik Willemyns. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
- 8Editor Alain Dessauvage shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
- 9Jeroen Perceval and Veerle Baetens and Kevin Janssens carry the top of the cast.
- 10IMDB entry: tt2586118 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
- 11Classified under 18 themes, including "fire", "police", "love triangle", "antwerp".
The technical file
- Cinematography
- Robrecht Heyvaert
- Original score
- Hendrik Willemyns
- Editing
- Alain Dessauvage
- Production design
- Geert Paredis
- Costume design
- Catherine Van Bree
- Runtime
- 93 min · 1h 33m
- Aspect ratio (typical)
- 1.37:1 (Academy)
- Status
- Released
- Budget
- $2,200,000
- Box office
- $1,366,879
- Return
- 62% of budget
- Original language
- NL
Also by
Robin Pront
Stills · wallpapers
Selected frames
Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.
Trailers & featurettes
Watch the pieces
Community reviews
What people are saying
- Reno★ 6/10
The brotherhood is tested for a woman they're onto. The Dutch crime-drama about two brothers, especially the plot revolves as a love triangle, but it is not a romance movie. The movie opened in the middle of some crime scene which is never going to be revealed what actually happened, because it wasn't important as the film's narration is something else. What comes later is the twist in the character's relationship with each other, especially between two brothers and a woman they're in love. The actual story begins a few years later to that opening incident. Looks everything has changed at that point, except one of the brother who just stepped outside the prison. The remaining is all about the condition of the family and the romance relationship that appears to be complicated to explain to one another. When it begins to unfold, the final twist strikes which bring further complexity to the conclusion section. Frankly, I did not like the first two acts. Actually, I expected it to be a crime story. With two tough characters the scenes did not create enough curiosity or the thrilling moments. But the third act is where the movie changed its pace as well as genre to what I was eagerly waiting for. Because of the decent developments in the earlier, this ending was so exciting. But overall product is just above average. That means it is not a bad flick, yet everyone's not going to like it. 6/10
- CinemaSerf★ 6/10
"Kenny" (Kevin Janssens) and brother "Dave" (Jeroen Perceval) are involved in an abortive burglary that sees the latter escape leaving the former to spend the next four years in jail. When he is released, the siblings are reunited with their mother and for a while, bygones seem to be bygones with "Kenny" even seeming to forgive his ex "Sylvie" (Veerle Baetens) who now has a child and who has also taken up a job pole-dancing for a Moroccan night-club owner. It's round about now that we start to see some cracks appear in the brotherly relationship. "Kenny" finds out who the father of the child is, loses his temper, then things are exacerbated by some thugs who visit their workplace and one of those is accidentally killed. Unsurprisingly, they get fired and then have to take the corpse to the remote rural home of ex-cellmate "Stef" (Jan Bijvoet) and his pal "Joyce" (Sam Louwyck). Ostensibly they are just going to get shot of the body, but their relationship only gets worse and "Dave" begins to wonder if he can, actually, trust his brother. Robin Pront does try to mix up the narrative a bit, it's gritty and dark at times and I thought Janssens made a decent fist of his "Kenny" character. The rest of the film, though, isn't really up to much. The dialogue is strained and a bit contrived, the direction style staccato and it really falls to the eccentricities of "Stef" and "Joyce" to breath a little quirkiness into what is otherwise all just a bit of a dreary denouement. I didn't hate it, but I doubt I'd watch it again.
Production companies
Who made it
PRPL
NL
Savage Film
BE
- BA
Bastide Films
NL
Eyeworks
BE
Key crew
- EditorAlain Dessauvage
- ProducerBart Van Langendonck
- Costume DesignCatherine Van Bree
- Production DesignGeert Paredis
- Production ManagerSieber Marly
- Production SupervisorTatjana Kozar
- Special EffectsArne Normon
- Special EffectsThomas Desmet
Themes & keywords
What it's about, really
- fire
- police
- love triangle
- antwerp
- release from prison
- pregnancy
- nightclub
- belgium
- murder
- snow
- brother against brother
- ostrich
- convict
- car wash
- house trailer
- ardennes
- techno music
- cell mate
Release history · US
When it landed
- Premiere2015-10-18· Chicago International Film Festival
- Theatrical (limited)2016-04-10· Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival
- Theatrical (limited)2017-01-10· Palm Springs International Film Festival
Also known as
International titles
- Le Ardenne - Oltre i confini dell'amoreIT
