LES INFANTS DES AUTRES

2022 / 103 min / color

The film’s main character Rachel (the always wonderful Virginie Efira) is a 40-year-old English high school teacher. At first she seems to be completely satisfied with her life — meetings with her sister, helping her aging father, and particularly taking guitar lessons. Everything changes when she starts an affair with Ali, a middle-aged man and the father of four-year-old Leila. Rachel starts to spend more and more time with the little girl, and their walks, evening routines and playful moments unexpectedly bring out her maternal instinct, which turns out to be much stronger than she had imagined. Rebecca Zlotowski has said that her new film, which screened in the Main Competition in Venice last year, is particularly personal. Not only does it present the doubts and maternal dilemmas of a woman of a certain age; it puts this type of character, so often marginalized in films, at the center of the narrative. It examines the inherent challenges and pitfalls of so-called “patchwork families,” while also creating a thoughtful and empathetic portrait of a mature, self-aware female.

• Awards: Seville EFF – Best Editing