‘Words of Love’ Review: French Filmmaker Rudi Rosenberg Sensitively Captures the Chaos and Compassion of Family

For his sophomore feature “Words of Love,” director Rudi Rosenberg makes a sensitive family drama about the fraught relationship between a mother and a daughter. Abigaëlle has never met her father and trying to make that connection becomes an obsession of hers — and while her mother, Erika, is supportive, she is also wary of how her wayward ex might affect her daughter’s psyche. Rosenberg crafts these two characters with realistic resonance, though his film veers into sentimentality and some plot points are too coincidental to be entirely believable. Yet somehow, by the end, the result is both moving and captivating. 

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Erika (Hafsia Herzi) has two kids from different fathers that she’s raising almost all by herself. She’s too busy and hurried to notice some of the problems that both her children are having socially and at school. Yet Abigaëlle’s obsession with finding her father looms large on the family and strains the relationships between siblings and mother. In pining for her missing dad, Abigaëlle (played at seven by Ella Bedoucha and at 14 by Nour Salam) cannot see the love offered by her mother and brother.

Abigaëlle has no memories of the father in question, who never wanted children, and abandoned her and her mother without looking back. Her brother Yoni (played at five by Aïdan Djouadi and at 12 by Charlie Lugassy) maintains a relationship with his father despite his parents’ separation. In a poignant early scene, Abigaëlle tags along with Erika and Yoni as they visit his big, rambunctious paternal family. The longing in her eyes to belong to a unit larger than just her mother and brother is clear, her pain palpable.

Rosenberg sets his drama in two periods in the 1990s in the north Parisian enclave of Sarcelles, setting many scenes in its busy streets. That gives the film a distinctive sensibility of time and location. There are no cellphones, the soundtrack is peppered with tunes from the era and a major plot point hinges on the family getting an answering machine. In addition to his eye for period-appropriate costumes and production design, Rosenberg has a deft ear for dialogue that flows in the way people actually talk, in varying, interrupting rhythms. This is especially apparent in scenes with multiple characters speaking, recalling 1930s American screwball comedies with a dash of French realism. 

In one scene where a particular piece of information needs to be delivered, four of the film’s characters are on the phone in two locations. At least two of them are withholding part of the truth, while the other two are eager to know more details. All four keep impatiently cutting each other off, snatching the phone back and forth. As the scene unfolds, Rosenberg lays into the comedy, yet beneath the surface lies the tragedy of the film. Aided by Bruno Tracq’s nimble editing, the scene exemplifies the film’s occasionally thrilling match of comedy and drama. 

Some of the concurrent plots to the main narrative are too on the nose, and the film suffers from some earnestness, particularly where two young characters and a cute dog are involved. However there’s enough pathos and real emotion to make “Words of Love”  affecting, thanks mainly to the two central performances by Salam and Herzi.

Salam, in her debut, is a real find, anchoring the film with a strong performance full of anger, hurt and disappointment, while remaining a character the audience can connect with. If Rosenberg is a man of words, then Herzi is a master of silence. While Erika has plenty to say, it’s the actor’s piercing yet gentle stare that tells us all the character is feeling, beautifully telegraphing her inner monologue. In the end, Rosenberg’s film answers the question of what makes a family. In Abigaëlle’s journey towards acceptance, the audience is given a tender portrait of familial love that’s both moving and entertaining. “Words of Love” may lean into mawkishness at times, but its emotional sincerity lingers in the mind.