Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne return with their latest film ‘Young Mothers’, a deeply humanist ensemble drama that follows five teenage mothers navigating the complexities of early parenthood in a shelter outside Liège. In their signature realist style, the Dardennes invite us to observe the struggles that life has put in front of these young girls, as well as the small communal acts of care that buoy them towards hope. The film won Best Screenplay at Cannes this year, and is receiving its International Premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
Unlike many of the Dardennes previous works, which zero in on a single protagonist, ‘Young Mothers’ splinters its focus across five intertwining lives. Heavily pregnant Jessica (Babette Verbeek), abandoned as a baby, braces herself for motherhood with equal parts resolve and dread that the cycle will repeat. Perla (Lucie Laruelle) struggles with substance abuse, and her feckless boyfriend is about to be released from a young offenders home. Ariane (Janaina Halloy) escaped her violent, alcoholic parents, and having been denied an abortion now wants her baby in foster care. Julie (Elsa Houben) clings to a caring boyfriend, but her drug habit keeps pulling them under. And Naïma (Samia Hilmi) is ready to leave the shelter behind, stepping toward a life she hopes will stick.
By shifting between multiple perspectives, the film captures a wider spectrum of the challenges faced by these young girls—addiction, abandonment, abuse, homelessness—and these are sketched vividly across the modest running time. Inevitably with so many stories to be told however, some have much less room to breathe. Naïma in particular is afforded far less narrative generosity than the others. It’s a minor trade-off for a film that otherwise brims with unflinching humanity. This is no more evident than in the scenes with Ariane, which is arguably the films strongest strand.
In focusing again on those who exist in the margins, the Dardennes continue their career-long project of mapping the invisible corners of Belgian society—where systemic neglect, generational trauma, and economic hardship are the forces shaping these lives. The young cast carry the film with a remarkable naturalism, their performances free of artifice or theatricality. Each brings a rawness that feels lived-in, from Babette Verbeek’s wary resilience as Jessica, to Elsa Houben’s restless turn as Julie. Janaina Halloy’s scenes with Christelle Cornil (who plays her mum) are incredibly powerful.
Stylistically and thematically, ‘Young Mothers’ is classic Dardenne brothers. Handheld close-up camera work, natural performances, focus on marginalised lives, and the moral dilemmas these characters face. It’s all there, presented with the brothers trademark empathy, and those quietly devastating moments of tenderness that pierce through the hardship. What perhaps sets ‘Young Mothers’ apart from some of their earlier work is the note of hope and optimism it leaves you with.
