Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)

Great Film overall

Admirable film.

A Disappointing Continuation

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Another fine film by Louis Malle. An understated drama about two pubescent boys, one of whom is a Jew hiding from the Germans. The pacing is slow, but the various dramatic are scenes telling. The ominous ending creeps up like a thief in the night and the finale comes down like a sledgehammer. Even if it is as subtle as can be.Gaspard Manesse, on whose character the film focuses mostly in the first part, plays wonderfully natural, but I have no complaints on any of the cast. And the setting of rural France is beautiful to boot.This may not be the sort of film I watch a lot, but from to time, I can really appreciate it. A good 8 out of 10.

During WWII in Nazi occupied France, Julien Quentin is a momma's boy unhappy to return to St. John of the Cross Carmelite Convent Catholic boarding school with his old brother François. A new boy Jean Bonnet arrives at the school. They eventually become best friends and then Jean tells Julien that he's actually Jewish. Joseph works at the school and trades with the boys on the black market.Filmmaker Louis Malle base this on his youth in a Roman Catholic school. This is compelling personal history of the larger story. However there is a lack of tension. It's never in doubt that Bonnet was a Jewish boy in hiding. It may help if he was a blonde hair, blue eyed boy. There are a couple of incidences where Bonnet is in the vicinity of being discovered but the tension never build. There is a lot of boys being boys like a 'Lord of the flies' lite. It's a bit annoying and directionless. I do like some scenes that don't go straight like the restaurant where the German troops kick out the french police trying to take a Jew. The movie probably needs to give Joseph more time and set him up for the big turning point. The movie should probably concentrate mostly on Julien, Bonnet and Joseph and lose half of the rest.

I was so intrigued and touched by the Au Revoir Les Enfants movie that I researched the facts behind it. While browsing the internet, I found the NYT article dated 2/7/88 and titled "Malle Confronts Haunting Memory" which was written by Richard Bernstein. This NYT article examined the interesting facts surrounding director Louis Malle's school experiences at Petit College d'Avon. It also revealed the historical facts and names behind the real life characters who are depicted as Jean Bonnet, Negus, Jacques Dupre, and Pere Jean in the Au Revoir Les Enfants movie. About 43 or 44 years later,director Louis Malle found the courage to write and share his gamut of profound emotions on the silver screen about his experiences with his beloved former Petit College d'Avon colleagues and French school headmaster who still tugged indefinitely at his heart strings despite the passage of time.

Goodye Children is the Engilsh translation of the title and director Louie Malle has created one of the best World War II dramas ever made. It is based on his childhood memories at a Catholic boarding school.Julien is a spoiled rich kid who is introduced to three new students, one of them, Jean, is very quiet, and his fellow classmates shun him. One night, Julien wakes up and sees Jean praying while wearing a yarmulke. It turns out that the school is hiding Jewish kids from the Nazis. The two slowly become friends, and when Julien's parents visit they bring Jean with them to a high class restaurant where German officers are dining. A patron is expelled during an ugly racist argument.A cook at the school is caught stealing food and selling it on the black market. In order to save himself he informs the Gestapo of the presence of Jewish hideaways and Jean is taken away. The priest in charge was also put in a camp by the Germans. The final part of the film is devastating and Malle has done the true story a great justice by this work.