Our Children

An exceptional performance by Emilie Dequenne dominates this powerful drama inspired by the harrowing case of Brussels mother of five Geneviève Lhermitte. The initial focus here falls on the relationship between Moroccan-born Mounir (Tahar Rahim) and his fiercely protective Belgian benefactor, Dr Pinget (Niels Arestrup). When Mounir marries teacher Murielle (Dequenne), Pinget suggests they share his home and soon begins to exercise his control as the babies start coming. Director Joachim Lafosse skilfully shows how Murielle's comfortable domestic environment gradually becomes her prison and subtly suggests the reasons why she might be driven to commit her hideous crime. Lafosse's use of music (from Scarlatti and Haydn to Julien Clerc) is also inspired, while Rahim and Arestrup once again demonstrate the persuasive bond they shared in A Prophet. But it's Dequenne's character's descent from free spirit to crushed soul that makes this tragedy all the more heartbreaking.