They belong to the exclusive club of filmmakers to have won two Palmes d'Or (in 1999 for Rosetta, then in 2005 for L'Enfant). On their previous visit to the Croisette in 2002, they won the 75th Anniversary Prize for Tori et Lokita. This year, the Dardenne brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne return to Cannes 2025 with their new film, Jeunes Mères, which competes for the Palme d'Or in the Official Competition.
Once again, the Dardennes have produced a powerful work in their pure naturalist style, verging on the documentary, an uncompromising but nonjudgmental social chronicle of (very) young women (most of them minors) living in a maternity home near Liège.
Some are still pregnant, others have already given birth. Surrounded by medical teams and caregivers, they must learn to take care of their newborn bylearning everyday gestures (giving a bath, dressing the toddler) in order to become a full-fledged mother, or else prepare to entrust it to adoption. But how do you become a mother when you're still a child yourself?
Jessica (Babette Verbeek), Perla (Lucie Laruelle), Julie (Elsa Houben), Ariane (Janaina Halloy Fokan), Naïma (Samia Hilmi) - this is the first time Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made a choral film. Solitary lives that find their place and draw their strength from the collective, within the cocoon of Liège. So many names, so many stories, so many different destinies, yet they all share a common foundation.
Most have been abandoned by men, and all come from families where poverty (economic and intellectual), violence (physical, moral and sexual) and addiction (alcohol, drugs) reign. But if mistakes can be passed down from generation to generation, nothing is immutable, and the portrait of these five young mothers who sometimes mingle (they willingly help each other) is there to prove it.
In the end, the Dardennes' film is positive (having just been awarded the Positive Cinema Prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival) in the face of this disillusioned youth. With its almost entirely female cast, Jeunes Mères is a tribute to the strength and solidarity of women, without any self-pity, and even with a note of hope.
Jeunes Mères will be unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival 2025. The film will be released in French cinemas on May 23, 2025.
Synopsis: Jessica, Perla, Julie, Ariane and Naïma are staying at a maternity home to help them with their lives as young mothers. Five teenagers with the hope of achieving a better life for themselves and their child.
Cannes Festival 2025: Films in the Official Selection
Discover the official selection for the 78th Cannes Film Festival, held on the Croisette from May 13 to 24, 2025. [Read more]
Cannes Festival 2025: Films in the Official Selection
