'Lorna's Silence' is a dark and effective dramatic thriller

LORNA'S SILENCE — ★★★ — Arta Dobroshi, Jeremie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione; with English subtitles (French dialects); rated R (drugs, profanity, sex, brief nudity, violence, vulgarity, slurs, brief gore); Broadway Centre

By all rights, we shouldn't care for — or even care about — the title character in "Lorna's Silence."

Played by expressive, impressive newcomer Arta Dobroshi, Lorna is an illegal immigrant from Albania. She has married a drug-addicted man, Claudy (Jeremie Renier), simply so she can gain Belgian citizenship.

And she's now looking for the quickest way to get out of the marriage — unlike her partner-in-petty-crime, small-time crook Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione), she's opposed to killing Claudy. Getting him to overdose on drugs is one option she is seriously considering, though.

As you can see by that option, Lorna is not exactly a nice person, or even an endearing one. That doesn't prevent this dramatic thriller from having some effective moments.

To be fair, the filmmakers, Belgian screenwriting-directing duo of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, do eventually "soften up" their main character to a point.

For one thing, we discover that Lorna hopes to get enough money to open a diner with her real lover, a long-haul trucker named Sokol (Alban Ukaj).

Unfortunately for her, circumstances may prevent that dream. Fabio wants her to marry a Russian gangster as a business consolidation move — once the situation with Claudy has been resolved, obviously.

The Dardenne brothers (2005's "The Child") have never been unafraid to explore morally gray, even dark, situations and even-shadier characters. This film is no exception to that rule.

That does give Dobroshi more to work with, characterwise. And she's well-matched with fast-rising Belgian star Renier ("Summer Hours"). He's terrific as the hapless, pathetic and even sympathetic Claudy.

"Lorna's Silence" is rated R and features drug content and references (narcotics and pharmaceuticals), scattered, strong sexual language (profanity, slang and other suggestive talk), a brief sex scene and other sexual contact, brief female nudity, violence (a bludgeoning, some domestic violence, self-flagellation and violence against women), derogatory language and slurs (based on addictions, nationality and ethnic heritage), and brief bloody imagery. Running time: 101 minutes.

e-mail: jeff@desnews.com