Young mothers: when the Dardenne brothers split armor (critic)

The first choral film of the two brothers, with the staging always as controlled. A great vintage where they rarely dare to leave its place in emotion.

They are called Lucie Laruelle, Babette Verbeek, Janaina Halloy Fokan, Elsa Houben and Saimi Hilmi. Like Emilie Dequenne with Rosetta,, 26 years ago, they will climb the steps of Cannes on Friday, a day before the record, for their first big role in the cinema, under the direction of the Dardenne. No one can predict the continuation but one thing is already certain: they have marked the cinema of the two brothers who, by signing their first choral film, split the armor like almost never, marrying as closely – thanks to their absolute mastery of the sequence plan – the strong and contradictory emotions that cross their heroines.

These are teenagers hosted in a maternal house, place of reception in Belgium for young women in social distress, pregnant or mothers of young children. One hopes that his boyfriend, released from prison, assumes his role as father. Another tent to reconnect with her mother (India Hair, masterful) who abandoned her baby. A third must decide if she places her child a host family. A fourth tries to free yourself from his addictions …

But this inventory at La Prévert does not give thanks to the film, everything except a compilation of societal subjects. Young people Conversely, seduced by the way in which the stories intertwine while gradually letting up the surface the secrets buried of characters in search of light and hope despite all the winds. And a number of seemingly simple plans – a girl who takes her mother for the first time in her arms, a gesture of which she has always dreamed – haunt you long after the final credits.

By Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. With Babette Verbeek, Elsa Houben, Jaïna Halloy Fokan… Duration 1h45. Released May 23, 2025