Adam's Sake

Belgian filmmaker Laura Wandel drew attention to herself with her feature debut Playground (2021), which premiered at Cannes and travelled the festival circuit for more than a year, reaping awards in process. It was a formally rigorous study of school bullying that rarely left the framework of the playground and the perspective of its main character, aligned with the position of door handles. In just over 70 minutes packed with tension and conflicts between the children whose “world”, which also stands for the original title in French – Un monde – operates on a strict set of rules.

Wandel returned to Cannes this year with her sophomore feature, Adam’s Sake, for which she takes us to another “world” that operates on procedures rather than unwritten rules. The film is currently travelling the festival circuit, albeit more slowly than its predecessor, which is a shame because it is not inferior to it in any way. It recently played at Zagreb Film Festival, in the section Network of Festivals in the Adriatic Region.

This time, our point of view is Lucy (Léa Drucker), the head nurse of the paediatric ward at a city hospital in an unnamed Belgian town. For the sake of her job, she usually has to strike a balance between the parents of her patients, the doctors, the hospital management and the wider bureaucratic system. She is also a single mother who raised her daughter on her own, so it does not come as a surprise that the case of the titular character (played by Jules Delsart) shakes her thoroughly, although she is presumably hardened by the nature of her work, which we can see in the way she deals with other cases in the first half of the film.

Adam has come to the hospital because of a fractured arm caused by malnutrition. The four-year-old boy still does not eat solid food, so his growth is delayed. The reason for that can be found in the weird belief of his mother Rebecca (Anamaria Vartolomei) that solid food will hurt her son, so she feeds him with baby food and sabotages every prescribed diet plan. On the other hand, there is no doubt that she loves him and that he loves her back, but the relationship between them is clearly a co-dependant one.

In order to achieve any kind of progress in Adam’s long-term treatment, Lucy tries to balance Rebecca’s and Adam’s wishes on one side and the requirements of the system represented by the more or less rigid doctors and administrators (Claire Denis’ regular Alex Descas in a bit role, among others) who insist on respecting the procedure, especially in the case when the parent is clearly harming the child with their more or less planned actions. According to Wandel, there are no problems with the system’s foundations, which are just, or its proceedings, which are functional, but the trouble comes from rigidity which prevents it from examining each case on its own terms of common sense in order to find the best possible solution. But, paradoxically, that kind of human and humane approach could cause anarchy and more harm…

Once again, Wandel opts for the style that we can describe as “Dardennesque”, since it clearly recalls the Dardenne brothers, especially their earlier, more claustrophobic and protagonist-centred works. It should not come as a surprise, since they are among the film’s producers and Wandel is a sort of a protege of theirs. It is especially visible in Frédéric Noirhomme’s camerawork, which levitates around Lucy and Nicolas Rumpl’s patient editing that breaks the illusion of the single-take, which would be too intense in an already very intense film.

The intensity, however, comes from the actors, especially two actresses and their interplay. Drucker, who earlier thrived as a character or supporting actress, once again demonstrates that she has the authority for lead parts. Her Lucy is a figure of gentle, but still firm authority, and someone who takes care of things. Opposite her, there is the volatile energy of Vartolomei, one of the rising stars of French cinema since her breakthrough role in Audrey Diwan’s The Happening (2021). Here, Vartolomei is a pure instinct, which suits the impulsive, irrational, emotional character she plays. The chemistry between the two forms one of the strongest acting bonds in 2025.

If anyone could find anything to hold against Adam’s Sake, it could not be an acting or a technical fault, but the notion of the “more of the same” that often goes hand in hand with filmmakers who sport a certain style film after film or are obvious members of certain film schools and movements. Laura Wandel is both, and she yet has to shock us with something new. But why should she change a formula that clearly works?

And, guys, hug your kids after you see this one!

Reviewed on: 12 Nov 2025