As is the tradition at each Cannes Film Festival, a renowned filmmaker is asked to share his craft in a Masterclass. Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Stephen Frears, Nanni Moretti, Wong Kar Wai and Sydney Pollack have participated in the past. Today it was not one, but two brothers, the Dardenne brothers, who are two-time winners of the Palm d’Or for Rosetta (1999) and The Child (2005), present to talk about their career choices, their films and how their approach has changed over the years. A number of excerpts in chronological order illustrated their discussion, moderated by French film critic Michel Ciment. A few of the highlights follow.

Jean-Pierre Dardenne talked about using unknown actors:
"We are not interested in our audiences watching the performance of some tried and true actor they have seen so many times before in other roles. We want that it be a first encounter. We do not want an actor to incarnate a character; we simply want a “person”. For the casting, we rely on want ads in the newspapers. A number of responses start trickling in along with photos, which allow a first selection and then we mull over this first group. No third parties are allowed; that would only perturb our process of elimination. In the end, when it’s narrowed down to two candidates, we’ve got our cast. This is a very important moment because it means we have already begun the film. We can then begin breaking the film into scenes. And those we have selected have always taught us much in return."

Jean-Pierre Dardenne on not using music:
"The music and sound rhythm, aside from speech, is provided by the sounds the characters generate: their movements, breathing, the rustle of their clothing, the objects they handle, etc. We give a lot of importance to the materiality of objects. Directing is just striking the right note, finding the rhythm of a scene."

Luc Dardenne on the handheld camera in Rosetta:
"We had this simplistic idea: there's a little soldier fighting a huge fortress, which is society. She's an outsider, and she attacks it as well as she can, what she has at hand. But if you film a soldier, you don't do it from his rifle barrel. Your point of view is behind him: you follow him, like a war reporter. The idea was as simple as that, and then we refined it as we worked… The goal was to be inside her energy, in her movement, and especially, to be slightly delayed, in relation to her. The opposite point of view didn't interest us at all in this film."

Luc Dardenne on how they operate as a pair, on a shoot:
"Note that we rehearsed for a month before we started shooting. In the morning, then, we're on the set with the actors, and we all try things out together. Once the shot is established, we call the technical crew – our buddies – who look at our idea. They try to make it happen. When that's going on, one of us watches the control monitor without saying anything. The other directs the actors. The camera rolls. When the take is over, the two of us meet. It's a bit theoretical, but that's when we evaluate the result. Normally, we don't like having other people around, because nasty things are liable to be said about the actors or the cameramen. And then, if we want to holler at each other, we holler at each other. We try things out on the monitor, and the one who is directing goes back with new instructions."