Other People's Children

The luminous Virginie Efira (Benadetta; Madeleine Collins) stars in this subtle, affecting portrait of a teacher whose biological clock is ticking. Rachel falls in love with Ali (Roschdy Zem), and he with her, but their relationship is complicated by the four-year-old daughter Leila he shares with his ex-wife (Chiara Mastroianni). It’s not that there’s tension between Leila and Rachel. Quite the opposite. The girl is a treasure. But she already has a mother…

Writer-director Rebecca Zlotowski (Planetarium) explores the nuances of this dynamic with great sensitivity and feeling. It’s just the kind of naturalistic, humanistic relationship drama the French do so well, beautifully acted, and when you come out of the movie you know you’ve experienced something true.

Zlotowski’s A Private Life screens at VIFF in October.

Other People’s Children sneaks up on you, with a depth and complexity of feeling.

Justin Chang, LA Times

Director Rebecca Zlotowski makes it easy to swoon…. This lovely movie is romantic — tender, sexy, very French — but even as Rachel’s relationship with Ali deepens, growing more committed and consequently richer and trickier, you never lose sight of the sweep of her life… By the end, Zlotowski has turned these fragments of life into a life, one that’s as worth living as it is worth watching.

Manohla Dargis, New York Times