The Adopted (DVD)

Starring: Melanie Laurent, Marie Denarnaud, Denis Menochet, Clementine Celarie
Director: Melanie Laurent
Running Time: 95 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: March 2nd, 2012

Melanie Laurent came to international prominence with a superb performance in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and was seen more recently in the Oscar-winning Beginners. Here she turns director for a family drama that’s involving if imperfect.

Marine (Marie Denarnaud) is a young woman who was adopted as a child and is now virtually inseparable from her adoptive sister, Lisa (Laurent). They’re so close that she is virtually the second mother of Lisa’s young son, Leo. Then Marine meets Alex (Denis Menochet), or rather he meets and pursues her. The two begin a fledgling relationship, which Lisa seems to resent, although their feisty mother is all for it. Marine starts to waver, unsure whether relationships are for her – despite the fact the rather charming Alex seems utterly devoted – but then a shocking event changes all their lives and forces Lisa and Alex together over the future of Marine… and her unborn baby.

Laurent is a real talent to watch out for, showing she’s not just a good actress but an artist with a great eye for images and neat ways to tell a story. She’s certainly helped by strong cinematography – it’s a film that looks superb and does some interesting things with depth of field – and a good script, but it’s difficult to walk away from the film without feeling it’s Laurent’s sensibility that helps lift this film out of the overwrought family drama pit it could have fallen into. The idea that the story will be seen through various different eyes at different points in the narrative could have fallen flat, but it works surprisingly well, allowing the film to explore different perspectives on love and relationships.

It’s a real shame therefore that things start to fall down towards the end. As the drama intensifies, the movie dips into occasional imagined reality, which feels unnecessarily manipulative. It’s almost as if Laurent wasn’t as confident of her abilities as she should have been and uses these things as a crutch, either to try and add to the drama or bring in a touch of whimsy when things threaten to get too dark. However they’re not needed and undermine the strong heart that’s been built  up to that point, especially as they appear out of nowhere over an hour in.

This doesn’t completely ruin the movie, but it does turn what could have been an incredibly moving and thought-provoking film into something that comes across as being a tad manipulative and unsure of itself. Laurent is still a director to watch out for though, as if she learns to truly trust her instincts she could be brilliant, able to pull wonderful performances out of people and bring a fresh eye to potentially overwrought stories.

Overall Verdict: While the ending may have problems, The Adopted is largely a moving and absorbing family drama that mark Laurent out as a director to watch.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac