Other People’s Children – Virginie Efira and Not Much Else

Films come and go but sometimes, great performances last even longer though they aren’t always everything. The most memorable part of Other People‘s Children, a French drama about a childless woman who develops a relationship with her boyfriend’s 4-year-old daughter while dealing with her own dwindling biological clock, is a powerhouse performance by Virginie Efira as the aforementioned woman. While the film certainly delivers on a grounded level with plenty of compelling female-centric character drama for which Efira admittedly does most of the heavy lifting because there is not much there outside of her as the other elements aren’t fully formed and seemingly only exist to service the main storyline. Nevertheless, she is an absolute delight to watch as she helps to make up for what the film lacks in other areas. Although it may be a French film, its themes are sure to connect with a more universal audience. At the end of the day, it will live or die based on its ability to resonate with audiences. Foreign language aside, its subject matter will not be for everyone.

As mentioned, Other People’s Children follows Rachel (Efira), a middle-aged teacher who loved her life and her students though there was always something missing in it and that was being a mother and having a family of her own. Falling in love with a man named Ali (Zem), she also quickly grew attached to his 4-year-old daughter Leila (Callie Ferreira-Goncalves). As their relationship developed over time, Rachel essentially assumed the role of a mother to her, performing all the usual motherly duties in spite of Leila already having a mother named Alice (Mastroianni) who was also Ali’s ex-wife. What was complicated dynamic was exacerbated by the fact that Rachel’s own biological clock was ticking as her time to potentially become a mother and have a family was inching closer and closer to the end. As the three continued to blossom, things got tougher for Rachel when it came to wrangling a 4-year-old who very much acted like one but through all of that, she saw glimpse of what her life could be. However, as much as she tried, Rachel was never going to be Leila’s mother. The more Rachel entrenched herself in the lives of Ali and Leila, the more complicated their dynamic became as she often felt like an outsider.

Acknowledging the role that Alice still played within the existing family dynamic, Rachel pushed that aside and kept an amical relationship with her. She loved the other two so much that she was willing to make it work even though she felt like an outsider and that divide between her and Ali and Leila appeared to grow larger. Nevertheless, the film loaded up on cute wholesome moments of Rachel, Ali, and Leila trying to be a family. While these moments made for a fun distraction, seeing other happy families only reminded her that she didn’t have one of her own. Ultimately, the reason why she hadn’t considered having her own and child family until that point was rooted in a childhood tragedy she had yet to move on from. However, that development felt tact on in the grand scheme. The crux of the story was Rachel’s internal conflict and how it impacted her relationships with all the aspects of her life as everything else in the film merely existed to drive the story forward. Where the film lacked was the thin characters it used to do so. Meanwhile, focusing on that conflict also left some unexplored directions and themes on the table.  

The best part of Other People’s Children was the powerhouse performance from Efira as Rachel. Single-handedly carrying a film that already put so much on her shoulders, she made its central narrative compelling to watch. A showcase of her range, she pulls audiences into her roller coaster of emotions as Rachel tried her best to keep it all together over the course of a journey that proved to not be easy. Though Ferreira-Goncalves was cute as Leila, it will more than likely be a difficult task for audiences to care about anything else the film has to offer. 

In the end, Virginie Efira is worth the price of admission alone, otherwise, Other People’s Children may not be for you.

still courtesy of Sphere Films Canada

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.