(JEUNES MÈRES)

FROM FRIDAY, AUGUST 29TH

Young Mothers explores the lives of underprivileged teenagers as they grapple with the challenges of parenting a newborn whilst managing their own troubled backgrounds and complex family dynamics. With characteristic empathy, the two-time Palme d’Or-winning Dardenne brothers follow the experiences of several such girls housed in a residential shelter in Liege, Belgium. Jessica is heavily pregnant and seeks to contact the woman who gave her up to the care system as a baby. Julie considers giving up her daughter for adoption, yet her own troubled mother wishes to raise the child to atone for her past mistakes. Perla, mother to baby Noe, naively hopes her delinquent boyfriend will settle down and start a family. And Ariane, who has the privilege of a loving partner, is at odds with her physically and emotionally abusive mother.

Notes by David O’Mahony.