AllMovie

In 1988, the Belgian Film Archive released a restored print of the 1925 film Visages d'enfants by the renowned Belgian director Jacques Feyder (1885-1948), who had a considerable influence on European filmmaking. His films were noteworthy for their introduction of the style of "poetic realism," which eventually became a cinematic movement. This films concerns Jean Amsler (Jean Forest), a young lad whose mother has recently died. When his father Pierre (Victor Vina) marries Jeanne Dutois ($achel Devirys), a woman with a child of her own, he feels betrayed, and not only rejects his stepmother but torments her daughter Arlette (Arlette Peyran). Eventually, he puts the little girl in mortal peril. Overwhelmed with remorse for the evil of his actions even though the girl was saved, he throws himself into a river but is saved by his now-vigilant stepmother. As he regains consciousness in her arms, at long last he calls her "mamma."