Les enfants des autres

From time to time, I love watching such typical French dramas, so close to reality, actual human behaviours, involving situation in which you easily could recognize yourselves. This is not a pure drama however, not gritty, tough, just compelling enough to grab you, a very good study of a special relationship between a young woman and her new lover's daughter. Some situations are though a bit too much, but there are here only to bring some spice in a story without which it would be too flat for the audiences. Good overall atmosphere, very agreeable without being cheesy nor run of the mill. Excellent, flawless acting too.

A rom-com à la française is still a rom-com, and this is a particularly poor one. Why it's currently being shown with the imprimatur of Film at Lincoln Center I cannot fathom. The film involves some talented performers, particulalrly Roschdy Zem. I'm even willing to believe that Virginie Efira, the protagonist, is in fact talented. But director Rebecca Zlotowski's obsession with her is carried to such a a discomforting extreme that 80% of the film (I may be exaggerating just a little) is made up of tight shots of her face striking different attitudes, without a lot of the kind of background or build-up that would justify most of them. And one of the more interesting plot lines - she's Jewish, he's named Ali and is thus presumptively Muslim - goes totally unexplored. You get a lot of performative Jewish observance, but nothing about his heritage, whatever it may be (the niceties of French republicanism allow this to pass without comment). Like his excessively cute daughter, Ali isn't a full- blown charcter, he's just a plot device. All the attention is on Efira'a character, her concern over what may be premature menopause, and her poorly backgrounded neuroses. None of which is developed to the point where this viewer, at least, was particularly interested. More romantic views of Paris are inserted than are justified, other than for marketing purposes - compare and contrast with the current and far better, more substantive Everything Went Fine, a film set in Paris in which there is not a single shot of the Eiffel Tower or any other hint of Paris la romantique, but that is rigorously set in the Paris that people actually live in.

To go one would be cruel, and pointless, like the film itself, which is a real dud. Good music score, though.

This is a rather bland film. Everything goes relatively swimmingly for a long time and then, when things do get complicated, they are only ever so slightly complicated.

It feels like this is a distillation of the many films/stories in which a woman who desperately wants a baby, struggles to conceive in her late thirties. But in distilling all those other works, it lacks any unique flavour.

It doesn't feel like events are really happening to Rachel and Ali. It certainly doesn't seem like they really feel them. Things happen and they seem to shrug their shoulders and move on. Their lives just aren't interesting or stimulating enough for either them or us.

"Other People's Children" is a French drama exploring motherhood's complexities and family dynamics. The film follows Rachel, a high school teacher who falls in love with Ali, who is separated from his wife and has a young daughter. The movie starts with a romantic image of the Eiffel Tower at night, which sets the tone for the dreamy and idyllic opening moments. However, the film quickly delves into the bittersweet reality of the characters' lives, with unarticulated tensions and inconvenient desires.

The acting performances are outstanding, with Virginie Efira delivering a radiant and beautiful portrayal of Rachel. The film also features smart, self-aware, and complicated female characters, which is a refreshing change from the usual tropes. The direction is solid, and the cinematography is beautiful, capturing the essence of Paris and the characters' emotions.

Unfortunately, the lives of the supporting characters are not as well-developed as Rachel's, making them feel two-dimensional. And the story takes a conventional turn towards the end, diminishing its uniqueness.

"Other People's Children" is a heartfelt and modern love triangle exploring motherhood and family's joys and pains. The film sneaked up on me with a depth and complexity of feeling that resonated. While it has some flaws, it is still a solid movie worth watching.

Terribly heartfelt and poignant at expressing what it's like to want something that you cannot have. It goes on one step further to tell what it's like when everyone seems to be taking that for granted and seems to be getting that one thing easy.

Embodied through Virginie's character, the metaphor of not having a child symbolises much more in our daily lives, a longing for the mundane things that some of us just cannot have. The film leaves and open slate for us to fill with what those mundane things are that we see others get so easily that we seem to not be able to get.

The movie also tells us about how cyclical this process is and even how sometimes we never get those things but just stay watching what we want drift away as we look on sadly.