Jeunes mères

Set in the maternity home in Alleur, Belgium, this top level film tells the story of five young mothers in distress and their bitter struggle to get out of the rut, with the help of the dedicated staff at their shelter.

It is a quasi-documentary film, very grounded in reality but also deeply humane, carried by five young actresses (some making their debut) who have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into their roles.

The Dardenne brothers' cinema, once excruciatingly naturalistic (the accumulation of misfortunes in "Rosetta" was truly unbearable), has lost today none of its harshness but has gained in brightness. Society may be cruel to some of its children, but some of its members are there to lend a helping hand.

All in all, this is a work that makes the heart beat with anxiety and compassion, but also with hope.

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are unsurpassed masters of social cinema and their homeland Belgium, as well as the whole world, must be so proud of them for their masterpieces. This time they filmed in a maternity house in Alleur, outside Liege, a place that shelters teenage mothers before and after giving birth. This documentary-like film tells us the stories of 5 very young mothers that struggle to survive and keep sanity in their harsh circumstances. Each story is different, but all of them are heartbreaking and painful. The Dardenne brothers manage to keep it real, but at the same time they offer a ray of hope both to the mothers, their babies and us who are watching. Amazing script and brilliant acting! Bravo!

"Jeunes mères" is the most recent film of the Dardenne brothers. The release of this film is accompanied in the Dutch arthouse streaming service PICL with a retrospective, so there are more Dardenne reviews on the way.

Like Ken Loach and the Taviani brothers the Dardenne brothers specialise in films about poor people. I like the social engagement from all of them. By the Taviani brothers the main characters are often farmers while the other two situate their films mostly in the city. The films of Ken Loach often have a moralistic undertone, their main characters being not only poor but also some kind of hero. The Dardenne brothers are more realistic portraying the Walloon side of Belgium which is less wealthy than the Flemish side.

The Dardenne brothers earlier made a film about teenage motherhood with "L'enfant" (2005) but this was a real different film. Despite being in their seventies with "Jeunes mères" the Dardenne brothers made their first ensemble film. The film is about 5 teenage mothers who live in a center for young mothers in Liège. The film alternates the experiences of each of them. It is no coincidence that the English title of the film is not "Young mothers" (the literal translation), but "The young mother's home". The Dardenne brothers were inspired by "Street of shame" (1956, Kenji Mizoguchi) about a couple of prostitutes living together in a brothel.

The film has a documentary quality. This quality is enhanced by the fact that the mothers are actresses but the baby's are real. Of course baby's don't obey to the script so the actresses were obliged to navigate between the script and the baby they had to take care off, which gives the film a natural look

None of the young mothers has had an easy life. There are violent parents, absent biological parents, drugs abuse, bad boyfriends and so on. It almost seems that trouble and misery are hereditary traits. In this sense the film reminded me of "It all starts today" (1999, Bernard Tavernier) about a teacher in a slum in the North of France.

We see however not only misery but also the fighting spirits of the young mothers. Their situation is not hopeless and, although calling it a happy ending would be exaggerated (the final scene comes real close though), each episode ends with a glimmer of hope. This is the big difference with a film such as "I, Daniel Blake" (2016, Ken Loach). Daniel Blake did nothing wrong but dies. The mothers did some stupid things but at the end they are still alive and kicking.