Other People’s Children (Les enfants des autres)
Written and directed by Rebecca Zlotowski
Starring Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira-Goncalves
In French with English subtitles
In cinemas

Review by Barry Healy

It is interesting to see how internet film reviewers define Other People’s Children. Some sites say it is a drama/comedy, others that it is a tragedy. This says more about the reviewers than it does about the film.

It is, in fact, a sensitive, feminist insight into the life experience of a childless, single woman as she approaches the end of her child-bearing years. In this sympathetic and realistic portrayal, the love and heartbreak are salted with laughter and tears.

Would being childless be a tragedy apart from social expectations? What room is there for a woman to find fulfilment when the children she encounters and comes to love are those of other people?

That is the space that writer/director Rebecca Zlotowski opens up.

Forty-year-old Rachel (Virginie Efira) is single and has no children. She is an effective and caring vocational schoolteacher with a caring circle of friends and family. Her emotional intelligence is demonstrated early through the friendship she has maintained with her ex-husband.

Except for one minor scene Efira is in every moment of screen time and carries the movie. The viewer experiences every relationship from Rachel’s point of view. An essential part of the film’s mature tone is Efira’s ability to convey complexities in silence as she reacts to emotional developments. Often the viewer feels the emotions that Rachel bites down.

After forming a loving relationship with Ali (Roschdy Zem), Rachel slowly builds a rapport with his young daughter, Leila (Callie Ferreira-Goncalves) and eventually, a friendship with his ex-wife (Chiara Mastroianni).

But what are the shoals and reefs hidden beneath the surface? Can Leila cope with the turmoil of having both a mother and another woman in her life via her father’s new relationship? Does Ali appreciate the depth of the bond between the woman he speaks of as his “girlfriend” and his daughter? Does he even see the emotional work that Rachel invests in the relationship with Leila?

As the relationships entangle the emotional stakes heighten. In the film’s one moment of high drama Ali’s true attitudes shine through.

Woven in are sub-plots such as a surprise pregnancy within Rachel’s circle. The question of abortion is discussed just as it is in real life, not as a drama. Religious attitudes towards abortion are delved into realistically.

There is so much to enjoy and contemplate in this film, such as the relationships between Jewish and Muslim characters and the no-nonsense manner in which Ali uses condoms. Does a female director construct sex scenes differently to the male gaze of mainstream cinema? See Other People’s Children for an object lesson.

Above all else is the satisfaction of seeing a woman’s life presented in all its messiness without being portrayed as a tragedy or laughed off as frivolity.

Other People’s Children is highly recommended.