Other People's Children Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Other People's Children Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 5, 2023

Other People's Children ends with a rather spry French version of the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic The Waters of March playing on the soundtrack. For those unacquainted with the tune, it features a "stream of consciousness" lyric which is basically a so-called "list song", albeit in this case a list of kind of random and unrelated things which Jobim (in the original Portuguese of course) aggregated to give some sense of the vagaries of life. Jobim's acolyte Sergio Mendes had the first English language recording of the tune (Sergio liked it so much he re-recorded it years later), and on a Tonight Show live performance back in the day of Sergio's original recording, one of his singers went completely up on the complex lyric, staring into the camera with a frozen smile and quiet look of desperation in her eyes. That may actually be the most salient analog to the general confusion that focal character Rachel (Virginie Efira) experiences in this story. Rachel is a forty something woman who can't quite escape the ineluctable ticking of her biological clock, at about the same moment that she begins a relationship with Ali (Roschdy Zem), a guy who just happens to have an adorable daughter named Leila (Callie Ferreira- Goncalves). What would seem to be a near perfect "solution" to Rachel's "problem" actually turns out to (of course) have obstacles of its own, and it's in this somewhat shifting environment that Rachel has to navigate her course.

Other People's Children is not a "showy" film, and in fact one of its chief assets is how deliberately unflashy Virginie Efira's performance in particular is. This is a "quiet" film in a way, despite some occasional bustle as Virginie meets with either friends, family or students (she's a teacher), but it's the kind of "quiet" that contains some really piquant observations about relationships and especially about "blended families" and the challenges they face. There's just the slightest whiff of melodrama a couple of times in the story, but the film is filled with some really smart writing and a couple of quite interesting pieces of casting, including Chiara Mastroianni (daughter of Marcello and Catherine Deneuve) as Ali's ex-wife and mother of Leila, and maybe just a little bizarrely, famed documentarian Frederick Wiseman as the gynecologist who warns Rachel that she'd better hurry up and get pregnant if she wants a child of her own.

With tongue perhaps slightly in cheek I'll add that this being a French film, there's a somewhat provocative depiction of some sexual activity as well as some probably gratuitous nudity. That said, there's also some rather interesting content here concerning Rachel's Jewish identity which is, like the film itself, handled in a kind of lowkey manner that would seem to be markedly different from some other French films that have a much more incendiary approach.

Other People's Children Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Other People's Children is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb doesn't offer much technical data, but your intrepid reviewer was able to find this interview with cinematographer George Lechaptois where he discusses using various Alexa cameras, while also getting into some of the lenses. Unfortunately I don't have any authoritative data on the resolution of the DI, but this is a generally very well detailed looking presentation that offers a secure palette and consistently pleasing fine detail levels. I'm not quite sure why, but Rebecca Zlotowski has chosen to begin and/or end some scenes with a kind of modern day update on an "iris", and that leads to some kind of weird quasi-banding. A few passing moments can look just slightly noisy (or someone was a bit aggressive in the digital grain department), and so there's a somewhat heterogenous look at times.

Other People's Children Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Other People's Children offers a sprightly DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in the original French. The film is populated with some really nice source cues ranging from Vivaldi to that aforementioned Jobim song, and the music consistently engages the side and rear channels. Some of the outdoor and/or urban material also offer opportunities for nicely placed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Other People's Children Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview Featurette (HD; 20:10) features Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem and writer / director Rebecca Zlotowski. Subtitled in English.


• TIFF Originals Q & A (HD; 21:36) features Zlotowski and Efira. In English, with a little help from a translator.


• TV Spots (HD; 1:51)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:50)

Other People's Children Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly could have done without the somewhat repetitive sex scenes between Rachel and Ali which seem to indicate that part of their relationship is going swimmingly, and there's just a slightly melodramatic angle to some of Rachel's familial interchanges, but on the whole, this is a refreshingly au naturel story that delves into some rather deep emotions quite winningly. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.