The Courageous review – rebellious mum on the edge will have you sobbing in sympathy

J ust in time for the migration of children from their summer stations in front of phones, games consoles and laptops back to full-time education comes this Swiss-set tale of a mother on the edge. An outstanding Ophélia Kolb (arguably best known to anglophone audiences for playing the accountant Colette in Call My Agent!) stars here as Jule, a single woman trying to hold it together for her brood of three. Eldest child Claire (Jasmine Kalisz Saurer) is just entering puberty and is savvy enough to work out that mama isn’t always strictly truthful about why she wears an ankle monitor that beeps when she strays from certain areas. (Jule’s explanation that she has weak bones doesn’t really cut it.) But younger brothers Loic (Paul Besnier) and Sami (Arthur Devaux) just read it as normal that J