More a place of spectacle than a workplace, a stage for intergenerational drama: a home for teenage mothers and their newborn children in a Belgian town. A team of social workers attempts to fill the void left by the parents of the five protagonists, who are joining forces to combat the catastrophic circumstances to which these women—now young mothers—have been or are currently exposed. Stylistically, the film draws on the documentary-based social realism for which the filmmakers are known. Rather than focusing on a single fate, they present a spectrum of how life unfolds in this social setting 

We see a brilliant ensemble cast: Perla (Lucie Laruelle) also wanted a family, just like her older sister; now she is fighting to stop her boyfriend from leaving her and their child. Jessica (Babette Verbeek) wants to get to know her mother and secure a grandmother for her child. Ariane (Janaïna Halloy Fokan) has no intention of returning to her alcoholic mother and her violent boyfriend: she wants to keep her child safe. Julie (Elsa Houben) wants to leave incest and drug addiction behind with her boyfriend and child. Naïma (Samia Hilmi) hopes that she can reconcile with her mother and find a way back into the family with her child, without being cast out again. Having a child was intended as part of the solution to satisfy the need to be loved as a child herself: a powerful act, after all.  

As in their other films, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne portray a society that fails and only offers help when it is actually already too late, when a ‘case’ has arisen: young mothers have always been the object of social care. The parents, themselves marginalised, become perpetrators: they deny, mistreat and abuse their children. And they abandon them, especially the fathers (who are not even sought after).  

The work at the shelter comes at the end of the chain; it provides temporary protection for the new mother-child dyad, but remains powerless against the forces of circumstance. We need more of everything, and services are needed for everyone. We see social workers doing everything in their power – there is so much we do not see; there are medications to help with withdrawal, but no psychotherapy. The shelter is only available for a limited time – the support is not tailored to the needs of the young women, let alone those of their family environment.  

Does social work make a difference? We don’t know what lies ahead, and the burdens weighing on these young women’s shoulders still seem overwhelming, even when a stroke of luck offers a glimmer of hope. At the same time, the good things and the successes are not forgotten: in the final scene, a retired primary school teacher is asked to be a bridesmaid for her former pupil. (Günter Hefler)  

Palme d'Or for Best Screenplay – Cannes 2025 

“’Young Mothers’ Is a Gentle Gift from the Dardenne Brothers” (Justin Chang, New Yorker, January 2, 2026) 

“The realities of poverty, neglect, racism, and violence are harsh constants in the Dardennes’ working-class universe, but the filmmakers believe no less intently in the persistence of goodness – a force that is all the more powerful, they insist, for the stubborn unpredictability with which it can take root.” (Justin Chang, New Yorker, January 2, 2026) 

“Up close and personal, without judgement, but with great emotional impact.” – NDR 

Welcome by Iris Dullnig-Scheurecker, Vienna Regional Council – Department of Women’s and Equality Policy