Moral beauty in the cinema of the Dardenne brothers

Moral beauty is at the heart of the Dardenne brothers’ cinema. Its revelation is a structuring principle of their cinema. The unsentimental production of moral beauty is among their most important achievements. In this paper, I develop an argument for this set of claims and I offer an analysis of the concept of moral beauty using the films of the Dardenne brothers as my guide. I track the strategy of revealing moral beauty throughout their oeuvre and explore the features of their cinema that helps them avoid sentimental responses to their films.