"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.
