Words from Rebecca Martin, our Managing Editor, about “Other People’s Children” during her Sundance coverage

As a person who just turned 40, at the tail end of last year, I couldn’t help but be attracted to the actors who were in their forties or were playing 40 onscreen. Watching these powerhouse women onscreen got me excited about this new decade of my life. The actress who I look up to the most and what she represents onscreen is Virginie Efira. She stars in one of the Sundance Spotlight films, “Other People’s Children,” directed by Rebecca Zlotowski. Her performance was beautiful and heart-wrenching to watch as a woman who cannot have children of her own. Meanwhile she has fallen in love with her boyfriend’s daughter, which gives her hope to have a child of her own in her life. The biological mother of the child is still in the picture and she struggles with the fact that she cannot bear a child of her own, due to the physical challenges of being at an age that makes it difficult to conceive. I’m in that boat now! But the beautiful through line that I pulled from this performance was that even if you don’t have children, you can make an impact on the people you touch and inspire in your life. As a teacher, Virginie’s character made a difference in many children’s lives, which shares the same value. I feel I’m making a difference for emerging filmmakers, and that also shares the same value of being a mother. Virginie Efira as an actress is breaking barriers of what it looks like to be 40 onscreen, as I’ve also seen in “Benedetta” and “Sibyl.” I’m excited to follow her career here on out.

*Our interview with director Rebecca Zlotowski will be featured soon.

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Music Box Films is pleased to announce the April 21 US theatrical release of OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, the deeply moving portrait of a woman, written and directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, starring beloved actress Virginie Efira (Benedetta,Elle, Sibyl).Selected at numerous film festivals including Venice, Sundance and Toronto, OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN will open exclusively in theaters on Friday, April 21 in New York (Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Film Center) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Royal) followed by a national expansion.

In her latest film, acclaimed French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski (Grand Central, Planetarium, An Easy Girl) draws from her own life to depict the emotional trajectory of Rachel (Virginie Efira), a schoolteacher whose desire for a biological child seems increasingly unlikely to be fulfilled (as she’s informed by her gynecologist in a delightful cameo from director Frederick Wiseman). When Rachel starts a relationship with car designer Ali (Roschdy Zem), he’s slow to let her know that he’s a single father, but once she finds out, she quickly grows to love his precocious daughter, Leila (Callie Ferreira-Goncalves). The stresses and strains of close relationships between adults and children are thoughtfully examined in a drama that’s as romantic in its evocation of new love blossoming in Paris as it is clear-headed about the myriad pressures that societal expectations impose on the lives of middle-aged women, with echoes of Paul Mazursky’s An Unmarried Woman. 

The much in demand Belgian actress Virginie Efira is best known for her work with directors Justine Triet (Victoria, Sibyl) and Paul Verhoeven (Elle, Benedetta), andwill next be seen in Alice Winocour’s Revoir Paris (Music Box Films), for which she was recently awarded the César award (French Oscar©) for Best Actress. 

Zlotowski is a graduate of the prestigious Paris film school FEMIS and the Ecole Normale Supérieure. A former French literature academic, she went on to write and direct Dear Prudence (Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize Nominee, winner of Prix Louis Delluc for Best First Film,) Grand Central (Cannes Official Selection), Planetarium, with Natalie Portman (Venice Film Festival), and An Easy Girl (SACD Award, Cannes Directors’ Fortnight). OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDRENis her fifth feature film.

“Bittersweet and beautifully observed” – Guy Lodge,Variety 

“Efira does her best work yet” – Jon Frosch, The Hollywood Reporter

“Efira, last seen by most audiences in Benedetta, gives another wondrous performance…The Belgian actor keeps the film together, grounding it with real emotional stakes” – Michael Frank, The Filmstage

Watch the trailer here

Written and Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski. Produced by Frédéric Jouve. Cinematography by George Lechaptois. Edited by Géraldine Mangenot. A Music Box Films release.