No Bandaid Solutions: Wandel’s Suffocating Drama Explores Collective Collateral Damage
Following her remarkable debut Playground (read review), Belgian auteur Laura Wandel moves from a harrowing portrait of schoolyard cruelty to shifting her focus to another intense microcosm in L’intérêt d’Adam (Adam’s Sake). This time, she plunges into the overburdened world of hospital workers, crafting a suffocating, relentless examination of systemic neglect—where solutions exist, yet alternatives are complicated by protocol. Steeped in separation anxiety, the film captures the frantic rhythms of a single working shift through calm, tightly observed cinematography. Léa Drucker and Anamaria Vartolomei deliver seamless performances as two women straining to provide care — with the film being a moving target on who and how that care is offered within a system that does its best at not adding more burden to those who are already victimized.
The story begins with a fragile four-year-old boy rushed to the hospital with a broken arm—an injury doctors suspect stems from deeper neglect. His mother, Rebecca (Vartolomei, fresh off her searing turn in another adult with child-like moves in Being Maria), is ill-equipped to grasp the gravity of her choices, barred from being alone with her child. Meanwhile, Lucy (Drucker) becomes the emotional anchor—ironically, the real child in need may be the psychologically paralyzed mother. The boy’s lifeless, emancipated body speaks volumes; Rebecca’s instincts falter under scrutiny. Wandel’s narrative spirals into chaos—children who don’t want to go home, who fear separation, even death—but the focus expands beyond Adam to Lucy herself. Hundreds of micro-decisions, seemingly mundane yet born from years of experience (and perhaps her own past), shape the unfolding tragedy.
Cinematographer Frédéric Noirhomme amplifies the urgency, employing techniques reminiscent of producers the Dardenne brothers—long takes, minimal dialogue, a visceral immersion into volatile environments. The film dissects institutional psychology: the hierarchies of doctors and specialists, the gendered disconnect in caregiving, the veiled struggles of immigrant families where abuse is often dismissed as superficial, the film’s POV colors one’s judgment. The denouement redefines caretaking as an act of relinquishing control.
Within its economical runtime, L’intérêt d’Adam avoids melodrama and miserabilism, though its impact occasionally feels surface-level, skimming the exhaustion of its characters rather than delving deeper. Still, Wandel solidifies her status as a vital cinematic voice—we feel that her future filmography will always challenge our perception of the root cause.
Reviewed on May 14th at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (78th edition) – Critics’ Week – Opening Film. 78 Mins.
★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
