Our Children (2013)
82%RT Audience Score: 69%
Awards & Nominations: 9 wins & 11 nominations
A wrenching, quietly violent psychodrama, Our Children has the courage to ask difficult questions, and the strength to leave the answers to the viewer
Our Children is a film that will make you question everything you thought you knew about parenting, mental health, and patriarchal authority. It’s a devastating journey that will leave you feeling like you’ve been hit by a ton of bricks. But don’t worry, Lafosse’s restraint will keep you from completely losing your mind. Just make sure you have a box of tissues nearby, because this one is a tearjerker.
Production Company(ies)
Eisei Gekijo Hakuhodo Nippon Shuppan Hanbai K. K.
Distributor
Distrib Films
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Dudelange, Luxembourg
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2012
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 51m
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Language(s):French, Arabic
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Country of origin:Belgium, France
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 2, 2013 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 19, 2013
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Niels Arestrup, Tahar Rahim, Émilie Dequenne, Stéphane Bissot, Baya Belal, Mounia Raoui, directed by Joachim Lafosse, written by Thomas Bidegain, Joachim Lafosse, Matthieu Reynaert, genre drama, box office performance $5.5K, producer Jacques-Henri Bronckart, Olivier Bronckart, Antonino Lombardo, Sylvie Pialat, MPAA rating, reviewed by Amy Taubin, Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Bill Goodykoontz, Kenneth Turan, Anthony Lane, Kate Muir, Patrick Gamble, Laura Clifford, Nora Lee Mandel, Louis Proyect, Drew Taylor, written by Thomas Bidegain, Joachim Lafosse, Matthieu Reynaert, Thomas Bidegain, Joachim Lafosse, Matthieu Reynaert, French (France), based on a true story, psychological study, tragedy, family drama, patriarchal authority, mental health, personal power relationships, dependency, domination, difficult questions, wrenching, quietly violent psychodrama, courage, strength, difficult questions, Thomas Bidegain, Matthieu Reynaert, Jacques-Henri Bronckart, Olivier Bronckart, Antonino Lombardo, Sylvie Pialat
Worldwide gross: $700,215
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $902,734
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,617
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 98,444
US/Canada gross: $23,203
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $29,914
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,781
US/Canada opening weekend: $5,500
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $7,091
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,767
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Tahar Rahim – Mounir
Émilie Dequenne – Murielle
Stéphane Bissot – Françoise
Baya Belal – Rachida
Mounia Raoui – Fatima
Jacques-Henri Bronckart – Producer
Olivier Bronckart – Producer
Antonino Lombardo – Producer
Sylvie Pialat – Producer
Joachim Lafosse – Director, Writer
Thomas Bidegain – Writer
Matthieu Reynaert – Writer
Director(s)
Joachim Lafosse
Writer(s)
Thomas Bidegain, Joachim Lafosse, Matthieu Reynaert, Thomas Bidegain, Joachim Lafosse, Matthieu Reynaert
Producer(s)
Jacques-Henri Bronckart, Olivier Bronckart, Antonino Lombardo, Sylvie Pialat
Film Festivals
Cannes
Awards & Nominations
9 wins & 11 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (41) | Rotten (3)
Lafosse explores the psychological and political truth beneath the tabloid clichés in a spare but furious attack on patriarchal authority. As tragedy, Our Children is both classical and contemporary.
August 27, 2019
Amy Taubin
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
It’s well performed and unflinchingly disturbing, raising bold questions about patriarchy, parenting and mental health.
September 5, 2017 | Rating: 3/5
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
metro.co.uk
TOP CRITIC
It’s an interesting way to tell a story and a devastating journey, particularly since it’s based on a real-life incident.
September 19, 2013 | Rating: 4.5/5
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic
TOP CRITIC
This is a taut psychological study, based on a true story, of the complexities of personal power relationships that begins with the kind of shattering revelation that would be the conclusion of most films.
August 8, 2013 | Rating: 4/5
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
There is no whodunit here — the horror is plain in the opening shots — and the how is presented with great restraint, but the why remains veiled and mysterious long after the film has ended.
August 5, 2013
Anthony Lane
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
The audience is held in a vise of claustrophobia, and every room seems full of tiny, screaming children.
August 2, 2013
Kate Muir
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
A brilliantly crafted example of contemporary storytelling, Lafosse’s Our Children provides us an unique insight into a chillingly believable tale of scandal and subterfuge without ever succumbing to cheap, manipulative techniques.
February 25, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Patrick Gamble
CineVue
When the inevitable happens, Lafosse’s restraint provokes dread – he’s given us a real psychological understanding of the unthinkable.
August 19, 2013 | Rating: B+
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews
Challengingly takes the anti-CNN approach to a horrific crime, as upsetting . . . in trying to make the unfathomable credible. . .the film is nuanced and thoughtful.
August 13, 2013 | Rating: 7/10
Nora Lee Mandel
Film-Forward.com
The title can refer to the children whose tragic death the film is based on but more subtly on the dependency of Mounir, a North African, on his adoptive father and that of the wife on Mounir.
August 2, 2013
Louis Proyect
rec.arts.movies.reviews
The film trades in a blank grimness that isn’t emotionally involving as much as it is like watching some terrible accident you’re helpless to prevent.
August 2, 2013 | Rating: C-
Drew Taylor
The Playlist
Our Children needs more heightened moments; its emphasis on quotidian frustration, while admirable (and probably accurate), just doesn’t get across what ultimately made this woman snap.
August 1, 2013 | Rating: 2.5/5
Mike D’Angelo
The Dissolve…
Plot
A doctor raises a boy as his own in Belgium, but when the boy grows up and starts his own family, his dependence on the doctor turns into domination, leading to tragedy and difficult questions about power and control.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Niels Arestrup, who plays André Pinget in Our Children, is a well-known French actor who has appeared in over 100 films and TV shows.
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