Our Children

After screenings of Our Children, most discussions will surely centre on Joachim Lafosse's choice of framing device. The film begins with a scene informing us that Murielle (Émilie Dequenne) and Mounir (Tahar Rahim) have suffered the devastating loss of their children, a storytelling decision that proves to be a double-edged sword. Without it, perhaps their deaths would have felt like a manipulative twist too far, but its inclusion does mean that we spend the whole film just waiting for the hammer to fall.

Credit is due then to Lafosse and the cast, who keep us riveted throughout this elegant and complex family drama. The director subtly exposes the cracks that appear in this initially happy marriage and follows Murielle's slide into depression with enormous compassion. Tahar Rahim and Niels Arestrup are superb as the two men whose controlling natures become too much for Murielle to bear, while Dequenne's performance in the central role is nothing short of spectacular. Whatever you think of the way Lafosse has set up his story, Our Children is a considerable achievement.