Duelles (2018)

In the early 1960s, Alice and Céline, longtime friends, live in adjoining houses in a quiet Brussels suburb and are mothers to two children, Théo and Maxime. A tragic event occurs that will turn their lives upside down. One day, Maxime, who is home from school with a high fever, loses his life when he falls from the ledge of his bedroom window while trying to catch the cat. Alice witnesses the scene but does not have time to save the child. From that moment on, Céline begins to grow paranoid, while disguising her troubles as attempts to move on. She starts showing an increasingly morbid obsession with and affection for little Théo, arousing the jealousy of her friend Alice. Alice, in turn, gathers clues about her neighbor until her suspicions become so serious that her husband calls her psychotic and tells her to get treatment. During an argument between the two women, Théo threatens to throw himself out of the window because of their frequent quarrels. Céline saves the child at the last moment. This episode allows Alice to repair her relationship with her husband and resume a dialogue with Céline. After learning that her neighbors are about to move, Céline puts a perfect criminal plan into action: after murdering her husband and her neighbors, while remaining skillfully above suspicion, she will ask to adopt little Théo, now alone in the world—and will be granted the adoption.