For a topic as ubiquitous in modern life as fertility, the theme is explored relatively rarely in cinema. A new French film that played recently at the Venice, Toronto, and Sundance film festivals aims to correct that.
Other People’s Children, the fifth feature from writer-director Rebecca Zlotowski, follows 40-something schoolteacher Rachel (a luminescent Virginie Efira) as she begins a relationship with Ali (a smoldering Roschdy Zem), who has an adorable young daughter from a previous marriage. As she grows closer to them both, the thought of becoming a mother begins to surface—even as her ob-gyn (revered documentarian Frederick Wiseman, in a delightful cameo) warns her it might be too late and Ali’s ex (Chiara Mastroianni) hovers on the sidelines. It’s a warm, nuanced film with charming humor that’s worlds away from the sad childless-old-maid trope; instead it’s a refreshingly thoughtful and full depiction of a sexy, empowered middle-aged woman as well as a meditation on legacies in general and how we impact the lives of those who come after us.
Zlotowski was able to conjure such a considered portrait because, well, she lived it. She was in her 40s, wanted children, had worked as a teacher, and was helping raise her partner’s children when she began the project—which actually started as an adaptation of a novel about male impotence. It evolved into a film about a woman’s inability to have children and the emotional tightrope of being a stepmother or a potential stepmother, both of which are seldom seen in film.
Also infrequently depicted in cinema: a woman who’s childless possibly by choice. Zlotowski explores the ambivalence that can arise near the end of a child-free woman’s fertility, creating a character who’s “not having children but not 100% in that decision. Because when you are decided on that choice, that’s perfect. But when your fertility ends, it’s not a choice anymore. I’ve never seen a film address this without it being a drag.” (One recent exception is 2021’s The Worst Person in the World; both films even end with the same wistful song).
Zlotowski—whose previous films include 2013’s Grand Central with Léa Seydoux and Tahar Rahim and 2016’s Planetarium, starring Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp—chatted from her home in Paris about showing sexy middle-aged couples, directing a venerable director, and joining the extremely short list of filmmakers who have made movies while pregnant.