This father never knows best. Scruffy loser Jérémie Renier lives with his 18-year-old girlfriend Déborah François in an industrial Belgian town and makes a meager wage from panhandling and petty theft. The love-crazy kids have a baby boy, and, for a while, Renier plays the part of dutiful dad. But then daddy dearest hears how much newborns fetch from illegal adoption agencies and sells the titular toddler on the black market.
He's surprised when François freaks (friggin' duh!), so he desperately tries to buy back their baby. All of which leads, of course, to Renier's, um, rebirth and redemption. Though Renier delivers a solid performance, his character is hard to connect with since he's so darn clueless at times, and his relationship with François lacks development. The filmmakers let many scenes linger too long but manage to achieve a sense of realism that occasionally packs dramatic punch. A likable--not lovable--Child.