The Dardennes’ keen interest in theater, first evident in Look at Jonathan, gave way to their first feature-length film, an adaptation of a semi-autobiographical play by René Kalisky, a Belgian playwright of Polish descent. A reflection on the intersection of history and fate in the life of a Polish-Jewish family, the Falsches, Kalisky’s play centers on the unexpected and ghostly reunion— in the Purgatory of an abandoned airport—of various family members scattered or killed during World War II. The formal experimentation of the Dardennes’ documentaries and their sustained interest in avant-garde aesthetics clearly inform their striking debut feature.

The Dardennes’ spirited portrait film depicts Jean Louvet, a Walloon dramatist who fuses Brechtian aesthetics with Sartrean existentialism to capture the working class experiences and heart of Belgium’s Francophone community during the mid- and late 20th century. An experimental biopic of sorts, Look at Jonathan uses excerpts from Louvet’s work, including some autobiographical writings, both to tell the story of his life and to document the work of his theater company in La Louvière.