Hyde Park Pick: Young Mothers

For their new film, Young Mothers, the duo turn their camera onto the experiences of five adolescent mothers living at a maternal support home in Belgium.

Jessica, Perla, Naïma, Ariane and Julie. Five teenagers faced with the great upheaval of motherhood. The Dardennes developed the story by spending time in a shelter for new mothers. They went into the space with the idea of a singular story they wanted to tell, but through conversation and gentle observation they understood there was a more nuanced story of a diverse community of experiences that they could use their platform to explore.

The outcome is a deeply humanist attempt to capture a whole community, showing not only the subtle impacts of the young women co-existing with one another, but also the role of support workers, teachers, psychologists, partners, family, and all the different points at which the individual can be fortified through the actions/kindness/insights of others.

In turn it also explores harm, especially the damage sometimes done by those who should care most for us and how particular the point of parenthood demands both looking back and looking forwards at the same time. A difficult process for many, but also one which can be full of hope, just as Young Mothers is a film full of hope.

If you decide to take a chance on Young Mothers, it’s also worth looking out for another exceptional new film coming up in September which explores parenthood, Deaf, by Eva Libertad. Deaf follows the experiences of Ángela, a young deaf woman (played by deaf actress Miriam Garlo), and her hearting partner Héctor, who are expecting a baby, face fears of parenting in a world lacking in accommodations for the hearing-impaired. Deaf and Young Mothers are significantly different takes on a what too often gets dismissed as a universal experience, and a subject that still carries a sometimes-overpowering societal expectation for the hardships associated to be experienced in private.