Enjoy outdoor jazz, Belgian gastronomy, and discover the latest Dardenne brothers’ film to impress Cannes

Belgian gastronomy and the country’s sizzling, starred chefs are centrestage at the Culinaria food show at Tour & Taxis until tomorrow (May 25). This year’s theme, Original Feast, sees a host of established and rising talents, create some exciting menus. Among them are Yves Mattagne, Vincent and Laurent Folmer, Alex Joseph and Michel Borsy, Tomoyasu Kamo and Top Chef winner Jean-Philippe Watteyne. Two different menus are available each day, plus a gourmet market and workshops to inspire budding foodies.

Kicking off the festival season with hundreds of free concerts is the Brussels Jazz Marathon this weekend. Six outdoor stages will be the focus for the highly-varied programme of traditional and modern jazz, roots, Latin and world music. In addition to the usual venues, the Grand’Place, Sablon, Place Sainte-Catherine, Place Fernand Cocq, two new venues have been added, Schuman and Place Luxembourg, in a nod to the festival’s increasingly-international audience. There are also 76 participating clubs and bars, with free shuttle buses ready to ferry everyone around. As for the line-up, there is American singer Robin McKelle in the Grand’Place tomorrow evening as well as a set of Belgian sax players in Place de Luxembourg. Saturday evening sees French singer Siân Pottok performing in the Sablon and early Sunday evening, the Jean-Paul Estievenart Trio (Bel) play the Grand’Place. Later that evening drop in to Place Luxembourg for Oghene Kologbo & World Squad.

Two Belgians have been selected as finalists in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, dedicated this year to the voice. In an uncontroversial selection, the Belgian sopranos Jodie Devos and Sheva Tehoval qualified for the final nail-biting round of concerts at Bozar from May 28 to 31. The 12 finalists include seven Europeans and five Asians, half of which are sopranos. The announcement of this year’s laureates will follow the final concert on May 31. Jodie Devos from Wallonia is to perform on May 28, Sheva Tehoval from Brussels, on May 31.

Belgian filmmakers and two-time Palme d’Or winners, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, once again took the Cannes Festival by storm this week when they presented Two Days, One Night (Deux jours, une nuit). Sustained applause followed the first screening of the film, another hard-hitting and naturalist social drama set once again in the industrial Liège hinterland of Seraing. In a new departure for the Dardenne brothers, they cast a major star, Marion Cotillard, in the central role of Sandra. Cotillard slips effortlessly into the un-starry backdrop and cast that includes Dardenne regular Fabrizio Rongione as her husband Manu. The film turns on a moral dilemma. After a period of sick leave, mother-of-two Sandra discovers that she has been made redundant from her job at a small factory making solar panels. Her fellow-workers have voted in favour of a €1,000 bonus rather than her keeping her job. Already emotionally fragile, Sandra’s reaction is to pop another Xanax and go back to bed. But husband Manu and friend and colleague Juliette argue that she should fight for her position. Juliette and Sandra first succeed in persuading their boss to call for another vote on Monday morning. This gives Sandra the weekend, hence the title, to track down each of her colleagues and ask them one-by-one to forego their bonus in favour of her job. Cotillard’s portrayal of a woman wracked by self-doubt and repugnance at having to plea for her job, is totally convincing. As the deadline approaches and pressure mounts, the moral question at the heart of the film intensifies. It is a powerful and pertinent indictment of the times in which we live, yet in the conclusion human dignity ultimately wins.

A third Palme d’Or is not completely out of reach for the Dardenne brothers, although if that is one award too many, the film could be compensated with another best actress gong for Cotillard, to add to her Oscar and two Césars.