The Broken Circle Breakdown

Didier plays banjo in a bluegrass band, lives in a trailer on a farm he owns in Belgium, and holds a deep admiration for America as the land of freedom. Elise runs a tattoo parlour and sings with his group. The two fall in love at first sight, share a passion for bluegrass music, and perform together on stage. Their happiness appears complete when their daughter Maybelle is born, but when the child falls seriously ill at the age of six, the couple's love and faith are placed under severe strain, and they respond to the crisis in very different ways.

The film is directed by Felix van Groeningen, who wrote the screenplay with Carl Joos and Charlotte Vandermeersch. It was his second feature, followed later by Belgica, Beautiful Boy, The Eight Mountains and Let Love In. Veerle Baetens plays Elise and Johan Heldenbergh plays Didier, with Nell Cattrysse as Maybelle and supporting roles from Geert Van Rampelberg, Nils De Caster and Robbie Cleiren. Dirk Impens produced the Belgian, Dutch and Netherlands Antilles co-production.

Released in October 2012 and running 112 minutes, the drama earned about 6 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.7 out of 10 from roughly 45,000 votes, and on TMDB it also holds 7.7 from about 1,150 votes. A critics' rating of 7.3 from 103 reviews sits close to those audience scores, indicating broadly consistent approval.