Here come Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Their latest film, “The Young Mother’s Home,” has once again been selected for the Cannes competition — they've already won the Palme d’Or twice. No director has ever won it three times.
In case you need a quick refresher, the Dardennes are the influential Belgian filmmakers behind “Rosetta,” “L’Enfant,” “Two Days, One Night,” “The Kid with a Bike,” and “The Son.”
“The Young Mother’s Home” stars Babette Verbeek, Elsa Houben, Janaïna Halloy Fokan, Lucie Laruelle, and Samia Hilmi. The story follows five teenage mothers — Jessica, Perla, Julie, Naïma, and Ariane — who live with their children in a shelter for young mothers. Together, they strive to build a more hopeful future for themselves and their kids.
While the Dardennes’ signature naturalistic style has received less acclaim in recent years, the Belgian duo continues to produce socio-realist dramas, shot with handheld cameras, that portray the struggles of the working class. Personally, I really liked their last two efforts — “Young Ahmed” (2019) and “Tori and Lokita” (2023) — despite the relatively lukewarm reception from critics.
Both films are thrillers and delivered exactly what I’ve come to expect from the Dardennes. They are master storytellers, and their camera always seems perfectly placed. These were stories about survival, and you could feel the characters’ desperation in nearly every scene. They were utterly gripping.
In fact, they came close to winning their third Palme in 2019 with “Young Ahmed.” Reports at the time claimed that the Alejandro González Iñárritu-led jury changed course only after “Parasite” screened, with just three days left in the competition. The Dardennes ultimately received the Best Director prize.
Fun fact: Martin Scorsese loved Tori et Lokita so much that he wrote an op-ed in Variety, praising the film as “one of the most devastating cinematic experiences I’ve had in a long time.”