We Believe You (2025)
Few courtroom fights carry quite as raw emotion as when the debate is over the custody of children. With two parents both pleading for the chance to protect and care for their children, it is natural that the event can be quite traumatic and intense. Screening as part of AFI Fest 2025, Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers' We Believe You takes the audience into one of these hearings. Alice (Myriem Akheddiou) has raised her kids alone for years away from their father, played by Laurent Capelluto, whose previous actions have been traumatic and abusive. Suddenly, the father wants to regain the visiting rights of his kids, claiming that Alice is failing them and that their health is at risk. During the film's 78-minute runtime, both parents and their legal teams share their sides of the discussion as the pressure and stress begin to chip away at Alice, who becomes increasingly emotional.
In a nearly 45-minute sequence, the camera sits on the faces of these parents as their sides present the argument for why each should be involved in their children's lives and why the situation has evolved to what it has. The father claims that Alice has poisoned their children against him, getting them to feed lies and have a clouded view of reality. He begs the judge for help and feels like the only way to repair this damage is to see his kids. Alice, on the other hand, is deeply emotional and protective of her kids, reaffirming the pain caused to them and pushing back against the claims of the father. No force in the film is as powerful or effective as Akheddiou's stunning lead performance. The amount of emotion Akheddiou is able to convey is a tour de force, commanding every frame and instantly becoming one of the best performances of the year. As the film centers on the pain and trauma this experience is putting on her, Akheddiou rises to the challenge and delivers a performance of a woman at her breaking point, desperate and hurt as she has to hold these emotions in, not wanting to lose control and cost her children their safety
It is because of this power, however, that the film can struggle. We Believe You is a film that projects the pain of having to fight for the safety of your family and the poignant experience of being seen and validated in that struggle that so often can feel isolating and despairing. The problem is that the film is so concerned with projecting Alice in a validating light that it never even really attempts to build an argument against her. The father shows up to this meeting without any real claim or evidence, with even the side fighting for his rights questioning him and generating multiple arguments against him. While the screenplay gives the character venom from his previous actions, at no point do the characters in the film feel like they are starting to side with him over Alice, and the audience never feels Alice's position being threatened.
There are plenty of angles that the film could take to deepen its perspective. From playing into a conversation on sexism to the lack of care given to testimonies of abuse without hard evidence, it is obvious the film needed something deeper to poke with, as once it makes its initial point, it is never able to kick into the next gear and sadly ends up feeling longer than it actually is. This also undercuts the power of the validation Alice is given by individuals in the film. When the enemy has no weapons, overcoming them in battle is less euphoric and noteworthy. The only reason it can be assumed that the screenplay is designed this way is to ensure there is no accidental reading created that Alice might not be just in her fight and decisions, but this feels like a disappointing lack of faith in the ability of the audience and the film's writing.
While We Believe You remains an overall powerful film, and features one of the greatest performances of the year, it is clear that there was more here the film could have engaged with. Too clean and simplistic for its own good, the movie is effective at getting its point across, but struggles to keep the audience's interest and hit that next thoughtful high, stalling without elevation beyond its initial success
In a nearly 45-minute sequence, the camera sits on the faces of these parents as their sides present the argument for why each should be involved in their children's lives and why the situation has evolved to what it has. The father claims that Alice has poisoned their children against him, getting them to feed lies and have a clouded view of reality. He begs the judge for help and feels like the only way to repair this damage is to see his kids. Alice, on the other hand, is deeply emotional and protective of her kids, reaffirming the pain caused to them and pushing back against the claims of the father. No force in the film is as powerful or effective as Akheddiou's stunning lead performance. The amount of emotion Akheddiou is able to convey is a tour de force, commanding every frame and instantly becoming one of the best performances of the year. As the film centers on the pain and trauma this experience is putting on her, Akheddiou rises to the challenge and delivers a performance of a woman at her breaking point, desperate and hurt as she has to hold these emotions in, not wanting to lose control and cost her children their safety
It is because of this power, however, that the film can struggle. We Believe You is a film that projects the pain of having to fight for the safety of your family and the poignant experience of being seen and validated in that struggle that so often can feel isolating and despairing. The problem is that the film is so concerned with projecting Alice in a validating light that it never even really attempts to build an argument against her. The father shows up to this meeting without any real claim or evidence, with even the side fighting for his rights questioning him and generating multiple arguments against him. While the screenplay gives the character venom from his previous actions, at no point do the characters in the film feel like they are starting to side with him over Alice, and the audience never feels Alice's position being threatened.
There are plenty of angles that the film could take to deepen its perspective. From playing into a conversation on sexism to the lack of care given to testimonies of abuse without hard evidence, it is obvious the film needed something deeper to poke with, as once it makes its initial point, it is never able to kick into the next gear and sadly ends up feeling longer than it actually is. This also undercuts the power of the validation Alice is given by individuals in the film. When the enemy has no weapons, overcoming them in battle is less euphoric and noteworthy. The only reason it can be assumed that the screenplay is designed this way is to ensure there is no accidental reading created that Alice might not be just in her fight and decisions, but this feels like a disappointing lack of faith in the ability of the audience and the film's writing.
While We Believe You remains an overall powerful film, and features one of the greatest performances of the year, it is clear that there was more here the film could have engaged with. Too clean and simplistic for its own good, the movie is effective at getting its point across, but struggles to keep the audience's interest and hit that next thoughtful high, stalling without elevation beyond its initial success