Like millions of other couples, Mounir and Murielle fall in love. Like millions of other couples, Mounir and Murielle have children. Read more …
But unlike them, they accept to give up their autonomy by agreeing to live with Mounir's well off adoptive father, Doctor André Pinget. On the material level, all is well. But a house is not a home, and Murielle feels more and more stifled...
With A Prophet's pairing reunited the omens aren't great for a happy outcome, and, sure enough, this isn't an easy watch. It's highly rewarding, however: dynamically played and superbly handled.
Whatever you think of the way Lafosse has set up his story, Our Children is a considerable achievement.
Despite its confined domestic setting, it speaks volumes about the state of the wider world today.
This is film-making of a very high order.
Tense, slow-burning and handled with impeccable discretion Our Children offers a piercing and compassionate glimpse into the unthinkable.
It’s not an easy watch, but Lafosse – who made the excellent mother-and-twins study Private Property (2006) – unpicks the family dynamics with moving candour.
A chilling family drama.
It's a quiet, immaculately acted study of appalling cruelty committed unconsciously by those who believe they're acting in the best interest of others.
Such social conscience and moral relativism is applaudable, but it's accompanied by a sense that there was scope here to create a film more dangerous, more reckless, more drugged on its potent, terrible power.
General release. Check local listings for show times.