In Joachim Lafosse’s Our Children, Murielle (Émilie Dequenne) is swept off her feet by Mounir (Tahar Rahim). She happily moves in with him and his father André (Niels Arestrup), but as she starts to have children, the living situation that suited them all becomes increasingly tense and destructive.
Though it is never explained in any detail, it is made clear early on that Murielle has no real family to speak of other than her crass, abrasive sister Françoise (Stéphane Bissot), who has no qualms voicing her concern over Murielle’s living situation. She also appears to have no friends, no life outside the ever-tightening four walls of the house in which she lives. As things become overwhelming, she isn’t able to confide in anyone, to talk about what’s bothering her. The problems get worse, with the men in her life expecting Murielle to deal with everything involving the children and judging her when she falls below their expectations. Everything is her fault, her job, her responsibility.
Far from the overbearing, meddling parent you might expect this bizarre living situation to present, André is simultaneously detached and attentive. He takes the baby when Murielle can’t get her to stop crying and offers to pay for their honeymoon. As time progresses, they become so indebted to him that they have little choice but to continue as they are for fear of seeming ungrateful.
Thanks to an incredible central performance from Dequenne, Our Children remains captivating throughout, even when the pace is relatively slow. Her moving, slow descent from happy carefree young woman to someone far more frail, unhappy and unloved is intoxicating. Her performance is immensely emotional but never overstated and when you spend the majority of a film wanting to give your protagonist the hug nobody else seems to realise she so desperately needs, no explanation is required when a goodbye embrace from her mother-in-law is so entirely affecting.
Our Children never feels the need to spell anything out for its audience, allowing viewers to make up their own minds. It is a powerful and captivating film that sadly will probably be overlooked because it just doesn’t live up to its recent French counterparts.
Amanda has awarded Our Children 3.5 Torches of Truth
