The Adopted review

A quirky french family drama

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The directorial debut of french starlet Melanie Laurent, this quirky family drama owes more to her recent turns in Beginners and classical music yarn The Concert than to her career breakout as an avenging angel in Inglourious Basterds .

This Lyon-set tale of two adopted sisters (Laurent herself and Marie Denarnaud) sees their relationship rocked when one of them falls for a tough-but-tender restaurant critic (Denis Menochet).

It’s glossy but saccharine, hammering home its coming-to-terms-with-life message as Laurent steers the story into contrived tragic waters.