The Ties That Bind Us

"The Ties That Bind Us (L'Attachement) is a beautiful French drama by director Carine Tardieu (The Young Lovers), where things that shouldn't mix, do. The story begins when a woman, about to give birth to a baby, asks her neighbor (Valeria Bruni), a feminist and a single woman by choice who decided never to become a mother, to look after her young son. Unexpected family bonds begin to form, however, when the mother dies in childbirth, her husband (Pio Marmaï) is left in charge of the children, and the boy starts to seek refuge more and more with the woman, who becomes fond of him. It’s a tender and melancholic film that, nevertheless, offers hope by exploring the different ways humans build families beyond biology."