Page - 29 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/02

Reality and Paternity | 29www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 15–32 eyes. The Dardennes’ body-camera shows the unbearable tension that accom- panies Olivier’s movements towards Francis and their common past by follow- ing him from behind, showing his back and neck in extreme close-ups. This view from behind emphasises the opacity of his experience, allowing at the same time a close proximity, as if his whole broken history was to appear like an in- delible inscription on his back. Moreover, the constant motion of the camera, focussing on Olivier’s back, gives the viewer the unsettling impression that any- thing could happen, accentuating the character’s unpredictability and ambigu- ity. Luc Dardenne recorded, “To film the back. The human enigma, that is situ- ated in the obscurity of the back. The great ellipse”.45 The Dardennes suggest that what remains of the father is this great ellipse of his back: what remains are the invisible signifiers that have marked his existence and are now inscribed on his back, like notches in the wood of his carpentry, which only the viewer can grasp as they see his oscillation between forgiveness and revenge, promise and removal, abandon and adoption. Only the promise or forgiveness – as the Dardennes, together with Hannah Arendt, seem to suggest – can unexpectedly decide between life and death, interrupting life’s natural tendency to ruin and allowing concrete belief in the world. Promise and forgive- ness destabilise the automaton and the irreversibility of destiny by releasing the subject from the unbearable consequences of morbid action and by connecting subjects in a new common destination. Promise and forgiveness both deal with temporality: the promise aims at establishing a new relation between life and future, while forgiveness seeks to look backwards into the past, interrupting the burden of guilt and generating reconciliation with the unforgivable. They both come to terms with the oppressive irreversibility of repetition, enabling subjects to tear down the walls of the sphere that encapsulates them and to go outside. As Arendt claims, Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one single deed from which we could never recover; we would remain the victims of its consequences forever, not unlike the sorcerer’s apprentice who lacked the magic formula to break the spell. Without being bound to the fulfillment of promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each man’s lonely heart.46 It is important to underline that promise and forgiveness depend on the pres- ence of the Other – the Dardennes would say of a father – since nobody can forgive themselves and nobody can bind themselves by a promise alone. In this 45 Dardenne 2009, 95. 46 Arendt 1998, 237.