Film Review: Les Nôtres

Les Nôtres, or as translated in English “Our Own,” is a French language Canadian drama from director, Jeanne Leblanc, who co-wrote the script with Judith Baribeau. It follows a high school student, Magalie (Émilie Bierre), who collapse in the middle of a dance class. After going to the nurse and taking a blood test, it turns out that she is pregnant, much to the surprise of her mom, Marianne (Isabelle Jodoin), who ends up spills the beans to a friend at a soccer game, which then unwittingly leads to a number of folks finding out in their small, tight-knit community in Sainte-Adeline, Quebec.

The film actually reveals who the father is near the half hour mark. I won’t get into detail about that because the trailer doesn’t, and I think it will play better for anyone who goes into this not knowing anything. Though, I wouldn’t say your enjoyment hinders on being surprised. Nevertheless, the situation causes quite the turmoil as the film explores the experiences from both Magalie and Marianne’s perspectives, one trying to move past the drama and the ugliness from the people around her, and the other trying her best to make sense of the situation, especially as rumors place the blame on Manuel (Léon Diconca Pelletier), a Mexican foster child who lives with his little brother in the home of the mayor, Jean-Marc Ricard (Paul Doucet).

While one might be inclined to compare this to something like last year’s terrific Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which showcased one young woman’s journey to get an abortion, this film breaches territory that is a bit more complicated. There’s a very tense undercurrent throughout the film. Jeanne Leblanc takes a lot of the visual grammar that you would normally see in a thriller, and applies it to this story. It plays things in a very subtle, understated way, but there’s a sense of momentum that is felt, and it really keeps you on edge, especially once you find out the truth of the matter.

If there is one aspect of the film I’d consider to be a bit of a misstep, it’s the way they handled the character of Manuel. Lablanc and her co-writer, Baribeau, want to touch on the way people of color tend to be disposable when the conveniences and comforts of white lives are mildly threatened. Manuel is often subject to slurs and nasty comments, sometimes behind his back, and sometimes to his face, and he is from what we see a pretty decent guy. At one point, a character even mentions that she knew someone who adopted Haitian kids, and that “didn’t end up well,” later referring to themselves as a “tight-knit community,” basically saying that people of color are not welcomed. While these details do add some interesting texture to the story, his point-of-view as the only person of color on screen gets sidelined for Magalie.

Les Nôtres may be a tough and, at times, a very stressful watch, but it is quite engaging thanks to Jeanne Leblanc’s ability to tell the story through strong and evocative framing and composition, as well as being able to draw out authentic and hard-hitting performances from her cast. Émilie Bierre, in particular, carries the film with an intense vulnerability, and brings a lot of humanity and lack of judgment to a character that under less delicate hands could have come across as really frustrating. It isn’t a flawless film, like I mentioned, the racial components to its themes are sloppy at best, and I think it could have ended on a better, more fulfilling note. It doesn’t necessarily transcend this particular style of dour indie drama, you know exactly what kind of movie this is within the first few minutes, and it doesn’t stray too far from the expectations you’ve set, but with that said, it is a perfectly solid example of a film like this, and it will leave you having some strong feelings whether it’s about the film as a whole or what happens within it. That’s not easy to do, so I’d say it gets the job done.

 

Les Nôtres is now out in select theaters and VOD platforms.