'Adam’s Sake' review: Finally, some good food | HIFF 2025

Dragons Films

Huh, there's a lot less warm alcohol in this movie than the title would suggest, and no one named Adam drinks or makes it. That's wild. At any rate, let's put on our masks and douse ourselves in hand sanitiser because Adam's Sake (L'intérêt d'Adam in French) drops us off at a hospital in Belgium. Léa Drucker stars as Lucy, an experienced head nurse trying her best in the paediatric ward where there is too much to do and too little time to do everything. Four-year-old Adam (Jules Delsart) has recently been admitted due to malnourishment and related health issues. His anguished mom Rebecca (Anamaria Vartolomei) is visiting under an order that limits the time she's allowed to spend with him. Lucy is attempting to get some normal food in Adam, and allows Rebecca to be in the room past her time limit as she also tries to make sure other patients are taken care of.

Writer-director Laura Wandel goes back to her stamping ground in lots of ways, forming yet another character-based drama with realism and a tight perspective as its two anchors. Cinematographer Frédéric Noirhomme's camera lets viewers meet Lucy and everyone else at their eye level, often quite close to their faces so you can see even the subtlest of tics, whilst following the action as if you yourself are a visitor, a fly on the wall, inside these spaces. Adam's Sake is another dash, clocking in at just under 80 minutes, but editor Nicolas Rumpl makes deliberate choices throughout regarding pacing to make sure that the pressure is palpable and you understand the human errors that can happen in these circumstances. This is not a mind-blowing—or even an original—story, but as a look at clash of personalities, limits of empathy and flawed support systems, it is a competent and kinetic piece of drama.

What this means is that for the helmer, the film is as a whole a slight downgrade when it comes to making something truly biting and memorable (compared to 2022's 'Playground'). This is mainly because both Lucy and Rebecca are fairly wishy-washy characters, the former being your typical hard-working empath while the latter has seemingly gone down a rabbit hole of some sort due to exhaustion and mental health issues. The problem is that it's hard to grasp what Rebecca is gravitating towards in terms of "healthy diets" and whether that extends to "alternative medicine" and other hooey. It's very surface-level stuff as is a lot of the interplay between those two characters; maybe this is a result of the small scale, but there's not much to chew on afterwards. The craft on display is less impressive as well since the look of the picture can sometimes be pretty indistinguishable from bland medical dramas made in the last 30 years.

The movie finds more gravitas in Lucy's recognition of Rebecca's poor mental health and loneliness, which helps to sustain the dramatic tension and make the ending resonate. Drucker and Vartolomei are rather terrific in their roles and the intensity between these two actors is riveting to witness. Wandel also continues to pry solid performances from her child actors, Delsart making the situation feel as authentic and believable as it can feel.

The acting fireworks are the main attraction, and combined with efficient storytelling and a brisk pace, you shouldn't miss this particular appointment. Plus, it doesn't hurt to get a reminder to show some compassion and patience when people clearly need serious help.

Smileys: Acting, pacing

Frowneys: Characterisation

How to die(t).

3.5/5

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