Aleem Khan's After Love (2020)

After the death of her Pakistani husband Ahmed (Nasser Memarzia) in their Dover home, Mary (Joanna Scanlan) checks out his phone and discovers that he has a French woman friend in Calais, so she decides to visit her. The woman – Geneviève (Nathalie Richard) – thinking she's a new domestic come to help, welcomes her. And Mary accepts this role as it allows her to infiltrate the house and discovers things she never knew, not only that her husband has led a secret life for many years, but also that she has a stepson – Solomon (Talid Ariss).

In a conflict of languages – Geneviève and Solomon speaking French and English but Mary speaking English and Urdu – each person's traumas are played out. The truth comes out when Solomon (a gay teen who hasn't yet come out to his mother), in front of the others, phones Ahmed and Mary's bag rings out. Geneviève's first reaction is to throw Mary out, although they have too much in common. They patch up their differences when mother and son decide to visit Ahmed's grave in Dover, next to the baby who died a few months after birth. The end of the film comes when all three walk towards the white cliffs, just after Mary has passionately embraced the son she never had. An excellent first feature from Aleem Khan.