I love this sort of tense realist drama. This is directed by Laura Wandel and produced by the Daedenne Brothers and you can feel their touch in the understated character driven narrative.

We are in a paediatric hospital and we follow senior paediatric nurse Lucy (the very excellent Léa Drucker) as she moves from patient to patient. There is a young child, Adam (Jules Delsart) in the ward who is malnourished and his single mother, Rebecca (Anamaria Vartolomei), is under suspicion for neglect. Adam won’t eat and the probation officer and social services agree to let her come in just for his meal times in the hope that she can encourage him to eat.

It seems simple and it is made clear to her that her ability to spend time with her son is based on her being able to demonstrate that she can be compliant and follow their expectations for nurturing him. We can see that she has a different view of what her son needs though, and it brings to mind the young parents who have strong ideas about veganism or their children’s access to medical care or some other adult restriction that they feel they should morally be able to impose on their child.

It’s not quite that simplistic though as Wandel makes us sit with the discomfort of Lucy, where she is torn between the recognition of the positive bond Rebecca has with Adam and her lack of trust in her ability to keep him safe. The camera follows Lucy around and in this busy paediatric ward, we get that sense of haste and chaos and the endless needs of children and families for care and protection.

I loved that it was hard to know where the story was going. At the heart of it is the role of Lucy, and perhaps all health workers in this kind of situation, where they are battling with optimism when they see so much neglect and abuse. Wandel is sparing with the background context but there is enough for us to feel we have some understanding of the characters and what motivates them. The performance from Delsart is phenomenal and very natural.

I like the way it ends, we are given a little bit of light in the darkness without it feeling twee or clichéd.