Young Mothers review: Dardenne brothers drama on teenage motherhood is a humanist gem

Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne return with yet another empathetic portrait, this time set in a residential shelter for underage mothers.

Young Mothers review
Cast: Babette Verbeek, Elsa Houben, Janaina Halloy Fokan, Lucie Laruelle, Samia Hilmi
Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Star rating: ★★★★

Young Mothers, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, follows the lives of young mothers in a Belgian shelter.

A Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne film never feels like a film, so unvarnished and realistic in its approach to life. The acclaimed filmmaker-duo are known for their collaborations with a cast primarily formed by non-professional actors, and their miniscule and deeply rooted portraits of social justice and working class protagonists. Their latest offering, which played in the International Film Festival of Kerala, is a triumphant return to form, even if there's a marked shift in ambition and focus.

The premise

Unlike their previous offerings Rosetta or The Child where a single character was in the main focus, here the duo are juggling five different tracks. The story is set in a residential shelter for young mothers in Liege, Belgium, as we follow the underage girls as they come to terms with motherhood. We jump from one story to another, with no pause or reflection in between. The viewer has to catch up. All these characters have had early pregnancies and share this same shelter. Their joys, heartbreaks and concerns are interspersed, while the fifth one is given a small yet significant sequence, as the sort of example the rest of the girls can aspire towards. The farewell sequence is one of the film's many wonderfully realized moments.

Whose story will get more preference here? That is not the point. Each of them matter, each of their approach to motherhood a case for concern and consideration. Jessica (Babette Verbeek), who is due in two weeks, wants to meet her own mother who abandoned her after birth. Perla (an excellent turn from Lucie Laruelle) wants to start a life with her baby, Noe, and her boyfriend Robin (Gunter Duret). But Robin is not sure he wants to be a father yet. Elsewhere, there is Julie (Elsa Houben), a former addict who has boyfriend Dylan (Jef Jacobs) for support, and is trying to start a family with her baby. Then there is Ariane (Janaina Halloy Fokan) who wants to give her baby for adoption, but her alcoholic mother Nathalie (Christelle Cornil) is begging her to reconsider that decision.

Final thoughts

Since there are multiple threads to consider and follow, the film never achieves that nail-biting emotional heft of the duo's previous features. The constant jump somewhat dilutes the urgency. Yet the film is always engaging and expertly constructed, where not a single moment feels manipulative.

None of these girls comes under any judgment, and the film offers them space and a warmth of community that carries them through. In the facility, the workers are always supportive and firm. The girls also take turns preparing dinners or helping in dire situations when the other needs to go. The scenes are beautifully understated and therefore, so impactful in their presentation of a country where these institutions are in place.

Young Mothers concludes these stories without the need to tie up in a thread of overwhelming sentimentality, which is certainly for the best. Let these girls decide for themselves. The most we can do, as a society, is to be more considerate of one another. As a nation, the need for such supportive institutional care for teenage parenthood is paramount.