No infant prodigy

The winner of the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Festival is a grinding depiction of poverty - not just the economic kind, but spiritual emptiness as well.

The anti-hero (sensitively played by Jeremie Renier) is a 20-year-old dealer in stolen goods who lives, Fagin-style, off thieving by street children.

His 18-year-old girlfriend (Deborah Francois) lives off state handouts and gives birth to a baby, whom our hero promptly decides to sell.

The Belgian directors, Jean-Pierre and Luc Ardenne, have made a career out of sympathetically portraying the poor; but they have their work cut out making us warm to these leading characters.

The ironic title may seem to be a description of the baby, but it also sums up the childlike fecklessness of the mother and father.

The Child will have its admirers for the uncompromisingly realistic way it depicts 'life on the street' and refuses to make value judgments.

But it's also depressingly negative about human nature, and very, very slow - the kind of film that wins awards, but fails to find an appreciative audience.

L'Enfant (The Child)
Cert: 12A