“The family is where we learn about democracy and is also the best place to observe dictatorship in action,” says Belgian director Joachim Lafosse. Watching his examination of the real-life case of a Brussels mother of five children who committed a horrifying crime, you can see what he means.
Almost half the film gives us little or no clue as to what is about to happen as teacher Murielle (Émilie Dequenne) marries Mounir, a young Moroccan immigrant (Tahar Rahim), virtually adopted by a veteran doctor (Niels Arestrup), who allows the couple to live with him.
There are tensions (Mounir’s brother is resentful of his right to live in Belgium) but, as four children are born and the couple decide it might be easier to live in Morocco, there is only a hint of the tragedy to come. Gradually, howeve, the good doctor becomes more possessive, and increasingly depressed Murielle is referred to a therapist. Ground down by circumstances over which she seems to have no control, her condition worsens until she snaps.
It is all beautifully acted, especially by Dequenne, and controlled with great skill by Lafosse. The placid nature of the first half perhaps goes on too long, but there is in the end a clear purpose to it. A small masterpiece.
