Young Mothers Jeunes Mères

Inside a home for young mothers in the Belgian town of Liège, five teens learn to care for their newborns, and themselves, as they navigate the challenges of early parenthood. Finding camaraderie and stability among the fellow members of their community, Jessica, Perla, Julie, Ariane, and Naïma come to rely on one another for support, finding a kind of sisterhood as they bond with their babies. Grappling with the lasting impacts of addiction or abandonment, mental illness and family strife, each girl struggles to break free from the darker aspects of her past, hoping to forge a path toward a brighter future.

Brimming with compassion and poignancy, Young Mothers earned the Best Screenplay prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the venerable writer-directors famed for films including the Palme d’Or winners Rosetta and L’Enfant. The Dardennes beautifully capture the small moments that pass between mother and child, soliciting such naturalistic performances from their young actors that the film often feels closer to documentary than fiction. Despite the difficult circumstances facing the characters, Young Mothers finds uplift and the possibility of a better tomorrow.