Other People's Children (2022) User Reviews

Heartfelt and modern; worth watching

[steveinadelaide · 7/10 · 22 June 2023]

"Other People's Children" is a French drama exploring motherhood's complexities and family dynamics. The film follows Rachel, a high school teacher who falls in love with Ali, who is separated from his wife and has a young daughter. The movie starts with a romantic image of the Eiffel Tower at night, which sets the tone for the dreamy and idyllic opening moments. However, the film quickly delves into the bittersweet reality of the characters' lives, with unarticulated tensions and inconvenient desires.

The acting performances are outstanding, with Virginie Efira delivering a radiant and beautiful portrayal of Rachel. The film also features smart, self-aware, and complicated female characters, which is a refreshing change from the usual tropes. The direction is solid, and the cinematography is beautiful, capturing the essence of Paris and the characters' emotions.

Unfortunately, the lives of the supporting characters are not as well-developed as Rachel's, making them feel two-dimensional. And the story takes a conventional turn towards the end, diminishing its uniqueness.

"Other People's Children" is a heartfelt and modern love triangle exploring motherhood and family's joys and pains. The film sneaked up on me with a depth and complexity of feeling that resonated. While it has some flaws, it is still a solid movie worth watching.

Movie Is Missing Something

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 2 May 2023]

For a lot of people, women not being able to get pregnant falls into the category of first world problems. And I'll admit that I haven't given much thought to that scenario, having the luxury of 1.) being a man and 2.) having a wife who was able to easily conceive exactly when we decided to have children. So for someone like me, "Other People's Children" does a pretty good job of personalizing what it feels like for women who feel the child-bearing window of opportunity closing. It also explores how callous the world can feel to those women, and how much the world of parenthood is taken for granted by those who didn't struggle to enter it.

That said, this movie is missing something that would have made it really memorable. There's nothing wrong with it, but I see it fading into the background quickly, and I doubt I'll give it a second thought when I'm looking back at the movies I've seen this year. Virginie Efira gives a lovely performance (and reminded me at times so much of Stockard Channing), but her performance would be more memorable if the movie around her was stronger.

Grade: B.

Simple Story With A Strong Lead Performance

[chenp-54708 · 6/10 · 30 January 2023]

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"Other People's Children" is a story about a childless woman forms a deep bond with her boyfriend's young daughter. This is director Rebecca Zlotowski fifth feature film and I have seen two of her previous works which are "Planetarium" and "An Easy Girl". Planetarium was really bad and An Easy Girl was pretty good. Here, Zlotowski provides good direction and wholesome scenarios despite having a predictable narrative. Various films about childless woman, romance and bonding had been explored before and for the most part, despite a few different approaches on the subject, it was mainly simple.

Many of the romance movements and motivations were basic and pretty standard for a typical French romance story. What makes the film still interesting was the direction, beautiful production and designs and a strong performance from the main lead actress Virginie Efira. Efira's performance was incredible as she captures every emotion from her character and has good chemistry with Roschdy Zem. The two lead performances helped to give a certain charm between the two characters and helped to make them pretty interesting. The child actor was also pretty good and adorable.

Besides a simple story, there were some moments that didn't do for me as some of the soundtrack choices were a little off-putting and some of the pacing could have used some work. With the main characters, there were side characters that felt a little out of place or underdeveloped that I wish could have been explored a little more. However, despite being predictable, I was still able to connect with the movie emotionally and still be invested with what is happening around them. I appreciate Rebecca Zlotowski approaching this story with a different point of view and I do look forward what she has to offer next.

Rating: B-

Excellent sweet French drama

[searchanddestroy-1 · 12 September 2023]

From time to time, I love watching such typical French dramas, so close to reality, actual human behaviours, involving situation in which you easily could recognize yourselves. This is not a pure drama however, not gritty, tough, just compelling enough to grab you, a very good study of a special relationship between a young woman and her new lover's daughter. Some situations are though a bit too much, but there are here only to bring some spice in a story without which it would be too flat for the audiences. Good overall atmosphere, very agreeable without being cheesy nor run of the mill. Excellent, flawless acting too.

Definitely not w ROM-COM

[feresdallel · 7/10 · 7 November 2023]

To whoever that thinks the movie is a romcom it only means one thing, is that you did not get the movie.

I studied cinema, and the movie is more dramatic than romcom!

The movie is quite simple but with deep meanings. It's main focus is parenting. Is it a need to be a parent? Should we all become parents? Where does the need and/ or the feeling comes from?

Virginie Efira (Rachel) performance is great. Rochdy Zem (Ali) performance is just fine. The kid (Leila) performance is outstanding.

I being a pansexuel cis-man, only daily basis I feel like Rachel. I worked with kids and I loved it. When I met the child of a friends of mine and we get along, it makes me happy.

I know I want kids, I want them. Why? I can't answer to this question. But could we all have kids?

It might be easier for a woman to get a child without having a partner, not the case for men. And adoption is a very complicated procedure in most of the countries discriminating those who desire to be single parents.

... few films you feel the characters emotions so deeply

[bjarias · 9/10 · 18 April 2024]

... this is a film should you not feel much for what her character goes through, you'll miss the point of lots of really good acting skills and very good movies in addition

... she has such range, they both do... matched together they give one of the really great film productions of 2022... lots going on onscreen, and all of it you feel so directly, even though you might never have been a part of any of it... as said, they're always good, this is one film that must be watched again, and it will loose nothing in more viewings.. a timeless work by great actors of today... still having many years-works remaining in their careers.

A rom-com à la française is still a rom-com

[Mengedegna · 4/10 · 27 April 2023]

A rom-com à la française is still a rom-com, and this is a particularly poor one. Why it's currently being shown with the imprimatur of Film at Lincoln Center I cannot fathom. The film involves some talented performers, particulalrly Roschdy Zem. I'm even willing to believe that Virginie Efira, the protagonist, is in fact talented. But director Rebecca Zlotowski's obsession with her is carried to such a a discomforting extreme that 80% of the film (I may be exaggerating just a little) is made up of tight shots of her face striking different attitudes, without a lot of the kind of background or build-up that would justify most of them. And one of the more interesting plot lines - she's Jewish, he's named Ali and is thus presumptively Muslim - goes totally unexplored. You get a lot of performative Jewish observance, but nothing about his heritage, whatever it may be (the niceties of French republicanism allow this to pass without comment). Like his excessively cute daughter, Ali isn't a full- blown charcter, he's just a plot device. All the attention is on Efira'a character, her concern over what may be premature menopause, and her poorly backgrounded neuroses. None of which is developed to the point where this viewer, at least, was particularly interested. More romantic views of Paris are inserted than are justified, other than for marketing purposes - compare and contrast with the current and far better, more substantive Everything Went Fine, a film set in Paris in which there is not a single shot of the Eiffel Tower or any other hint of Paris la romantique, but that is rigorously set in the Paris that people actually live in.

To go one would be cruel, and pointless, like the film itself, which is a real dud. Good music score, though.

La vie quotidienne

[frukuk · 1/10 · 4 April 2024]

This is a rather bland film. Everything goes relatively swimmingly for a long time and then, when things do get complicated, they are only ever so slightly complicated.

It feels like this is a distillation of the many films/stories in which a woman who desperately wants a baby, struggles to conceive in her late thirties. But in distilling all those other works, it lacks any unique flavour.

It doesn't feel like events are really happening to Rachel and Ali. It certainly doesn't seem like they really feel them. Things happen and they seem to shrug their shoulders and move on. Their lives just aren't interesting or stimulating enough for either them or us.