‘Young Mothers’ review: Five teenage mothers form the nucleus of the Dardenne brothers’ latest

Dir/scr: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne  France. 2025. 105mins

In a residential shelter for young mothers in Liege, Belgium, five girls grapple with the challenges of parenting a newborn, from the basics of bath time and feeding routines to the knotty legacies of their own troubled backgrounds. It’s a typically empathetic and authentic work from the two-time Palme d’Or-winning Dardenne brothers. But while the choice to follow five characters rather than just one or two makes sense on one level – there is no single, defining experience of being an underage mother after all – it does dilute the overall power of the picture somewhat.

Glimpses of young lives feel unvarnished and honest

This latest from the Dardenne brothers was inspired by a visit to a maternal support home  – the same one in which this film is largely shot – during the research for a different film. Thematically, it has a kinship with previous works from the prolific duo. Like The Kid With A Bike, it’s a thoughtful portrait of young people in institutional care; like Tori And Lokita, it offers a child’s eye view of lives on the margins; like Palme d’Or winner The Child, it shows parenthood filtered through a lens of desperation and privation.

But while some of the story strands in Young Mothers will likely tug at audience heartstrings, others feel thin and underdeveloped. The film is unlikely to match the prize-haul of the filmmakers’ previous Cannes Competition premieres, but is a solid arthouse title that should please existing fans of the brothers’ compassionate, small-scale social realist studies, although may struggle to draw in new viewers. 

Jessica (Babette Verbeek) is heavily pregnant, her childlike face incongruous above her swollen belly. She’s due to give birth in a matter of weeks but, before she does so, she is desperate to make contact with the birth mother who gave her up into the care system as a newborn. Jessica is certain that she would never do the same with her unborn daughter, but her need for answers drives her to act recklessly – behaviour that asks questions of her own fitness to take on the responsibility of motherhood.

Perla (Lucie Laruelle), mother to baby Noe, waits expectantly at the gates of a young offenders institution to greet her boyfriend and the father of her child, Robin (Gunter Duret). But when it becomes clear that he doesn’t see a future for the three of them together, she abandons the child for three days, to attempt to persuade Robin to reunite with her. Elsewhere, Naima (Samia Hilmi) is introduced in a single scene, her leaving party from the support home and a moving capsule glimpse of a success story. 

The most satisfying of the strands are those of Julie (Elsa Houben), a former addict and rough sleeper battling to get her life back on track with her boyfriend Dylan (Jef Jacobs), and Ariane (Janaina Halloy Fokan), who is at odds with her physically and emotionally abusive alcoholic mother Nathalie (Christelle Cornil) over her choices. Ariane has decided that, for the sake of her baby and her own chances of a better future, she will give the baby up for adoption. Nathalie attempts to coax Ariane to keep the child, making makes empty promises of sobriety and a calm and safe home environment.

The Dardennes’ typically no-frills approach means that these glimpses of young lives feel unvarnished and honest. There is, however, a degree of predictability to some of the plotting. The relapse klaxon could barely be any louder following an uplifting scene in which Julie and Dylan learn that they have been offered their dream apartment. Still, thanks to the strong work from the young cast (not least the adorable moppet playing Ariane’s baby, who steals one of the most affecting scenes), the film has a cumulative power and a heartening message of resilience and optimism.