‘Adam’s Sake’ review: Critics Week opens with tense hospital drama from ’Playground’s Laura Wandel

Dir: Laura Wandel. Belgium/France. 2025. 78 mins.

Lucy (Léa Drucker) is a nurse on a paediatric unit in a busy unnamed hospital, where we join her mid-shift in a tense character study that not only takes the temperature of modern public medicine but also suggests love can be dangerous at the wrong dosage. Chief among Lucy’s patients – although by no means the only draw on her attention – is four year-old Adam (Jules Delsart). Nursing a broken arm he suffered as a result of being malnourished, he is with his young single mum Rebecca (Anamaria Vartolomei), who has been given court access to him twice a day because he refuses to eat anything without her. Writer/director Laura Wandel immerses us in the interplay between the trio during the course of a day as problems mount.

The Belgian filmmaker is returning to Cannes to open Critics’ Week after Playground, her intense breakout debut about school bullying, took home the FIPRESCI prize in the Un Certain Regard section in 2021. Wandel’s follow-up isn’t as morally complex and, given the steady flow of well polished hospital films and television dramas, also not as distinctive in terms of subject matter. Nevertheless, it remains an emotionally intelligent and taut entry in the field. Screening out of competition, Adam’s Sake will be distributed in France by Memento and the powerful performances from Happening star Vartolomei and Drucker (Custody, Close) should help it garner attention further afield.

When Lucy brings a plate of food, instructing Rebecca to give it to Adam, before leaving to check on other patients, it’s immediately obvious that what is feeding mother and son is the fear of separation. Adam constantly watches his mother and she, in turn, hugs him tightly at almost every turn. There’s a bruised quality to the performances from Vartololmei and Delsart as the characters mirror one another’s mood. Like Lucy, we don’t need to be told any backstory to see they have been through the mill. The sense of bruising extends to the colour palette which feels stripped of warmth. Even the balloons intended to strike a cheery note on the ward are a chilly, tearful blue.

In contrast to Rebecca, Lucy has a watchful but no-nonsense air. Cinematographer Frédéric Noirhomme, reteaming with Wandel after Playground, often trails in the nurse’s wake in the style of the Dardenne Brothers as she strides through the hospital’s corridors, giving us a sense of the physical ground she is covering as she deals with an assortment of young patients. The emotional terrain that she is navigating is just as arduous. It’s notable that rather than sick children being the problem, it’s their parents that are generally more needy, whether it’s being pushy about who is examining their offspring or relying on their child to translate what is being said.

As Lucy calmly tries to win Rebecca’s trust, which is not the same as trusting her, the desperate mother’s increasingly rash actions are coupled with pressure from Lucy’s colleagues, who think she’s too focused on the case. The short amount of time Rebecca is allowed to spend with Adam plus the time left on Lucy’s shift add to the propulsive sense of a clock ticking, with everyday inconveniences, such as access badges not working correctly, adding to the tension.

Vartolomei turns Rebecca into a fountain of emotion, dousing everyone within proximity and threatening to drown herself in the process. Drucker, by contrast, fills Lucy with a sort of pent-up energy that bubbles up in bursts to the surface during moments of hand scrubbing or speaking to her own child on the phone. The feel of being in a genuine hospital environment is enhanced by the lack of score, making the sound design all the more prominent. Adam’s snuffly breathing reflects his emotional state, while other hospital sounds like a baby crying add to the sense of pressure on the wards that is playing out just beyond our sight.

Wandel takes a non-judgemental approach to the characters, indicating that while Rebecca is helping neither herself or Adam, nor is the system that is attempting to care and protect them. While too muted to be a celebration, this is a compelling recognition of the Lucys of this world, who go on caring above and beyond the call of duty and against the odds.