Five young mothers living in a shelter strive for a better future for themselves and kids amidst challenging upbringings.

Belgium’s Dardenne brothers are two of the finest filmmakers in Europe and they’re back with a new film called ‘Young Mothers’, which is fresh off winning the Best Screenplay award at Cannes. The film tells the story of four (or 5, although the 5^th is barely in it) young mothers who are housed together in an assisted living facility where they can get additional support from carers. All of them are in a position where they are struggling, whether it be through being a single parent, substance abuse or family troubles, and the story follows them as they try to make the right decisions for themselves and their newly born child.

Like previous Dardenne films, this is a moving and subtly told story about young women being faced with incredibly difficult choices at a stage in life when they don’t have the support or experience to consider the implications of their decisions. These characters stories are told with nuance and care, and the variety of themes explored are deftly handled, whether it be absent fathers, generational trauma or the cycle of addiction and poverty. I enjoyed the performances, with the young cast bringing these characters to life superbly, and I thought the filmmakers did an excellent job of drawing you into their dilemmas.

The Dardenne brothers have once again hit it out the park with another brilliant slice of social realism, and ‘Young Mothers’ is an excellent film.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Starring: Lucie Laruelle, Babette Verbeek, Elsa Houben, Janaïna Halloy Fokan and Samia Hilmi

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt32909489/