Immersing yourself in a new film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne is akin to reluctantly catching up with an old friend. As of late, there’s something almost too familiar about the brothers’ tried and tested brand of social-realist cinema that mines the fringes of Belgium for disquieting stories of its working class denizens. They once changed the vernacular of realist filmmaking with their Golden Palm-winning Rosetta (1999), and returned for Cannes’ top prize with L’Enfant (2005), but ever since the Adèle Haenel-starring The Unknown Girl (2016), the pair inhabits the Cannes’ main competition with increasingly diminishing returns. In particular, the bitter memories of the contrived radicalization narrative at the heart of Young Ahmed (2019) could barely be replaced by the somewhat stronger, yet still unconvincing immigration drama-thriller Tori and Lokita (2022).
That’s why their latest Cannes entry, Young Mothers, comes as a pleasant surprise. It’s the strongest Dardennes picture since 2014’s Two Days, One Night — one that sees the fraternal duo reaching a level of urgency and intimacy we haven’t seen from them in a while. However, to call their 13th feature a return to form would do Youth Mothers injustice, as the Dardennes do something relatively novel here by composing a mosaic-like narrative around its quartet of protagonists. Jessica, Perla, Julie, and Ariane are teenage girls who, under the care of a maternal assistance home in Liège, are bracing themselves for motherhood. Burdened by poverty, depression, and/or substance use issues, these girls find themselves in a pressure cooker situation, in which they have to rapidly reach a level of adulthood in order to be able to provide a life for their children that was never available to them.
The Dardennes’ oeuvre usually pivots around single characters who circle closer and closer toward the abyss. Obviously, the teenage moms of Youth Mothers also face a myriad of emotional, familial and financial setbacks, and yet it’s the aspirational drive of the narrative that ultimately shines through. By dividing the weight of their severe cinematic form on multiple characters, the Dardennes essentially deliver a series of micro-narratives that are refreshingly modest and earnest. Instead of sensationalising the politically sensitive topic of teenage pregnancy with heavy polemics, Youth Mothers rather presents itself as an inspired exploration of female resilience. Additionally, after all their grim stories of governmental neglect, this film feels like a genuine celebration of the essential institutional support the maternal assistance home provides these girls with.
In the relative calm of such cautiously optimistic narratives, the hyper-focused style of the directing duo also finds new relevancy. As the most prominent auteurs of social-realist cinema, the Dardennes hold a unique position, in which they can afford to almost endlessly rehearse the staging of their meticulously crafted mise-en-scène. In the worst cases, this level of directorial control results in a tiring form of hermeticism, expressed in technically impressive but ultimately bloodless films. Here, however, their thorough cinematic style feels appropriately alive and vibrant. This is arguably their most vivid approximation of what a fictionalised observational documentary can feel like.
Especially impressive is the way Benoît Dervaux’ agile cinematography hops between the multiple characters in the chaotic hallways of the maternal assistance home. It boggles the mind to imagine how a film crew navigates such an environment, inhabited by anxious teenagers, dedicated social workers, and about a dozen babies. While the Dardennes are widely celebrated for the pitch-perfect performances they extract from non-actors, working with numerous newborns posed a new challenge for their highly controlled shoots. The sudden crying of babies “are things that we have incorporated, and they’re incorporated quickly when they happen,” explained Jean-Pierre Dardenne in an interview published on Cannes’ official website. He adds: “It adds tempo — a completely different rhythm. Something that happens, like that, is part of life and it creates rhythm.”
It’s exactly this sense of rhythm that distinguishes Youth Mothers from the brothers’ previous — and especially, recent — directorial efforts. By limiting the scopes of all the intersecting stories, they have found a way to rejuvenate their cinematic sensibilities, proving that with the right material, they remain masters of their craft.
Published as part of Cannes Film Festival 2025 — Dispatch 4.
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