I didn't expect to flinch reading a synopsis.
But when a film opens with a malnourished child, a helpless mother, and a nurse stuck between care and crisis, you know you're not in for red carpet fluff.
Laura Wandel's In Adam's Interest isn't just kicking off the 2025 Cannes Critics' Week—it's also quietly challenging the festival's unspoken rules about who gets the spotlight. And who doesn't.
Let's talk about why.
The Cannes Snub That Wasn't (Exactly)
Wandel's first feature, Playground, punched critics in the gut with its raw depiction of childhood bullying. It nabbed Belgium's Oscar submission and got a standing ovation longer than some films' runtimes. So when word got out that her follow-up was “liked” by the Cannes selection committee but didn't make the official competition lineup? Eyebrows, meet ceiling.
Instead, In Adam's Interest lands as the opening night film of Critics' Week—a sidebar traditionally reserved for bold new voices and indie underdogs. Wandel's no rookie, though. She's returning with handheld grit, emotionally heavy material, and a cast (Anamaria Vartolomei, Léa Drucker) that could melt steel with a glance.
It raises the question: Did the Cannes brass pass because the film was too quiet? Too grounded? Or is Critics' Week quietly becoming the place where the real risks get taken?
A Hospital, A Family, A Knife to the Heart
The setup's deceptively simple: a pediatric ward, a struggling mom, a fragile boy, and a nurse caught in the moral crossfire. But if Playground was any indication, Wandel isn't here to tie up loose ends or spoon-feed catharsis. She builds tension like a bomb you feel ticking but never see.
There's a lineage here—films like László Nemes' Son of Saul or the Dardennes' The Kid with a Bike—intimate lenses on systemic failures. Wandel's handheld camera doesn't just follow characters; it hovers, haunts, implicates. If her technique remains consistent, you won't watch In Adam's Interest. You'll endure it.
Déjà Vu or New Dawn?
Critics' Week has quietly launched some major names: Take Shelter's Jeff Nichols, Raw's Julia Ducournau, and even Wong Kar-wai back in the day. But it's rare for a second-time filmmaker this acclaimed to land here instead of the main slate.
Is Cannes shifting the goalposts? Or is Wandel signaling that she'd rather risk being overlooked in competition than over-polished on the Croisette?
Either way, this feels like a smart move. In Critics' Week, Wandel controls the narrative. There's no Palme d'Or race drama. Just a film. And an audience. And—presumably—a shared sense of emotional devastation.
Would you rather be in the spotlight or start the fire from the shadows?
In Adam's Interest might not walk away with a top prize. But it could leave Cannes with something rarer: a permanent scar.
