The new film from Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne is much like the others. The actors are mostly non-professional; the locations are real; the themes are sociological; the mood is often tense. The subject of their latest is unplanned pregnancies and the options made available for young French women who feel that their situation, whether exterior or interior, might not be suited for raising a child.
What gives The Young Mother‘s Home an edge is how it approaches the topic in a country where abortions are available, affordable, and relatively socially acceptable. Which is to say that each of the film’s subjects have come to their situation by some kind of choice. Perla (Lucie Laruelle), whose small build makes her appear even younger than her years, has a disinterested boyfriend who’s just been released from a juvenile detention center; thus she hopes the baby will save their relationship. Ariane (Janaïna Halloy Fokan) is considering putting her daughter up for adoption but is constantly told to reconsider by her sporadically abusive, potentially guilt-stricken mother. There is Jessica (Babette Verbeek), whose attempts to reconnect with her own mother, who was forced to give her up for adoption at a young age, provides a mirror to her own situation. And then there’s Julia (Elsa Houben), who looks in good shape to move out of the mothers’ home and into a flat with her boyfriend––once she can keep a lingering drug addiction at bay.
With few scenes in which the four protagonists interact, Young Mother’s Home can suggest an anthology project or TV show wherein the Dardennes dip in and out of each parallel story in their typical verité style. It’s not difficult to imagine any single protagonist providing the central arc to one of the brothers’ earlier films, and that lack of a central narrative line and consistent dramatic momentum will feel glaring to anyone used to their typically air-tight screenplays. Such scattered focus or lack of interplay is an uncharacteristic blot, but the film is still recommended viewing; they still know how to draw a good performance and nail an emotional beat. All four of their young stars are given the opportunity here and duly rise to the occasion. In each sequence is the audience is left to consider questions with no easy answers; all it ultimately asks for is a little empathy.
This is the Dardennes’ 13th film together, 10 of which (like this one) premiered in-competition at Cannes, and two of which won the Palme d’Or. They couldn’t quite make it three last week, though Juliette Binoche’s jury did agree to award them Best Screenplay (which is basically fifth or sixth place, depending on how you look at it). Similar to Ken Loach, they’re basically tenured filmmakers here, returning to competition roughly every three years since 1999. Theirs is a style that’s no longer in-fashion and which, like Loach, we will miss when it’s gone.
The Young Mother’s Home premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.