Les Enfants Perdus: dir Michèle Jacob (2023)

Four young siblings find themselves abandoned in a house in the woods in Belgian writer-director Michèle Jacob’s creepily atmospheric suspense thriller. For much of its running time, The Lost Children has the ominous atmosphere of a slow-burn horror film; “the forest doesn’t want us to leave and the house is haunted” as one of the children says.  Things aren’t quite as clear-cut as this implies, though, one review descries the film as having a David Lynch vibe. But it’s engaging, is occasionally illuminated by flashes of dark wit, does eventually come to a conclusion, and doesn’t take too long to reach it …

This film in a short Francophone season (with English subtitles) at Sorbonne Abu Dhabi – shows in the Sorbonne’s rather nice outdoor garden.