User reviews

"More than 40 years have passed, but I'll remember every second of that January morning until the day I die."

Part of what makes this autobiographical film from Louis Malle so powerful is that a big portion of its coming of age material is universal. In a Catholic boarding school we see hazing and random bullying while ineffectual headmasters look the other way, bedwetting, reading after hours, playground battles, curiosity about girls, and the kind of childhood events that get remembered for life, like getting lost in the woods. In other words, it's just boys trying to get through the difficulties of growing up, and really could be any group of boys, at any time.

But of course this isn't just any period, it's occupied France during WWII, and while the school full of affluent kids seems mostly insulated from that, danger lurks. Three new boys who have been admitted and given new names are secretly Jews, a fact which gradually becomes known by Julien, one of the smarter students (Gaspard Manesse, playing the young Malle). He has a rivalry and a friendship with one of the new boys (played soulfully by Raphaël Fejtö), and the nuances of their relationship not only felt authentic, but it made it hard to know how the film would play out.

I love the dimensions of the film, including the differing Catholic responses to the Jewish issue in Vichy France - some good, some bad. There is also an axis of rich/poor, and I loved the sermon where the priest shocks the visiting parents by criticizing the behavior of the wealthy. Lastly, the use of the Chaplin film 'The Immigrant' (1917) within the film is pitch perfect, and a masterful touch.

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

A wrenching, sensitive, all-too-true drama set in a gorgeous French wooded outpost during World War II. The main actors are boys, and they play their parts with unusual conviction, unexaggerated but with intensity. And the anti-Semitism that arises, though inevitable in Nazi territory, comes subtly and really stings. The movie isn't complete without this horror, but the horror is made complete by the really vivid recreation of this kind of private boys school--a period movie at its best.

Director Louis Malle has not only a message, but a sensitive feel for the medium--for making fluid the flow and background of the plots of his films. It's also a fairly complex mix of types, and you can somehow keep them all straight as it goes--as straight as you are meant to as the facts unfold. In the end, it confirms a familiar story of Nazi terror, but one that can't be told too often.

The movie was a project close to Louis Malle's heart (he was in tears when the film premiered at a film festival in 1987) and it shows in the multi-layered treatment he gives the central setting, this fascinating boarding school with its broad cast of characters. Because there are so many different strands and affecting moments tangential to the central plot, one is not entirely prepared for the finale even if you are expecting it. French film is characteristically digressive, often to a fault, but here it works to splendid advantage. It also lends itself to repeat viewings.

I don't think you need to have lived in occupied Europe to appreciate this wonderful film; it speaks to all of us who have lived through childhood's quickly-passing parade and know its lifelong regrets. That last image of the stone wall is emblazoned in many consciousnesses, as it is in mine.

There are many interesting choices Malle makes in this film. For example, while the central subject is the Holocaust, nearly all the Germans we actually see in the film are fairly decent if nonetheless menacing types. The real villains here are almost entirely French collaborators, which was done I think to call attention to collaboration during a period when the French were dealing with the Klaus Barbie trial. [Barbie was a Gestapo officer who was aided in his work rooting out Resistance leaders by many French collaborators.] But casting French people as the heavies also suggests the central evil of prejudice and oppression is not something exclusive to one nationality, and it broadens the scope of the movie.

The tender treatment Malle affords the Catholic hierarchy in the movie is unusual, too, when you see other more anti-clerical Malle efforts like "Murmur of the Heart." There is an unexpected sense of spirituality throughout this film, somewhat muted but there all the same.

This may well stand as the cinematic masterpiece of a man who, at his best (see also "Atlantic City" and "My Dinner With Andre") was to motion pictures what his countrymen Zola and Hugo were to novels: An artist who filled his canvas with the verve and breadth of human life.

After a few years making movies in the United States, Louis Malle returned to his native France and made "Au revoir les enfants", based on his memories of growing up in Nazi-occupied France. The movie focuses on the friendship between two boys in a Carmelite boarding school, one of whom is keeping his real identity secret.

A particularly effective scene is in the restaurant. There are some Wehrmacht officers at a table, but they keep to themselves. Then the Milice enters and orders a Jewish patron out of the restaurant. The Wehrmacht officers then order the Milice to leave. This emphasizes not only the role of the Vichy government, but also the role of the collaborators in every country that Germany occupied.

I haven't seen all of Malle's movies, but this is probably the best of his movies that I've seen. The final scene has to be one of the most chilling in cinema history. I recommend the movie.

This is a very moving film, most likely based on an actual event. The Carmelite priest,Lucien Bunel (1900-1945, "Pere Jacques") was founder and director of the Petit College d'Avon, near Fontainebleau. He was arrested on Jan. 15, 1994, accused of hiding 3 Jewish boys among his students, and was deported to the infamous Mauthausen concentration camp. He died in Linz, Austria on June 2, 1945. Malle's film depicts the intense trauma of Jewish children who were separated from their families and forced to take on a new identity in hiding, always afraid of being found out. They also faced the dilemma of how to maintain their Jewishness in the setting of a Catholic school. So, not just another war movie, this film depicts some of the real struggles facing hidden children, many of whom were saved by courageous Christians in Europe.

Emotionally engrossing coming of age story for boys at a French Catholic boarding school during World War II, where subtle changes in friendship evolve during a time when Jews were being persecuted by the Nazis and sent to extermination camps. Told from the boyhood viewpoint of children, it captures the fearful nature of children under enormous pressure from outside sources they cannot comprehend.

The semi-biographical account by Louis Malle of a time he spent at such a boarding school is driven by the focus on two boys: Julien (GASPARD MANESSE) and Jean (RAPHAEL FEJTO), a French boy and a Jewish lad, respectively. They carry the main burden of the story and are both excellent in a cast that is uniformly good.

The rambunctious behavior of a bunch of Catholic school boys is something I can relate to personally, having sung in a choir as a boy where I was surprised at the ruffians who, behind the scenes, were like street youths full of boyish pranks and rough-housing, until summoned to walk out to the altar of the church, hands clasped in front of them like little cherubs. This aspect of the French boys in the film rang true to me, their behavior being very true to life.

The story is compelling, dealing as it does with the Nazis determined to find every Jewish lad they could, aided sometimes by collaborators who for one reason or another turned in Jews to the German officers. The ending is particularly poignant and well acted.

Highly recommended and stands as a reminder of the cruelties of childhood and war.

On seeing this movie several years ago my accompanying colleagues said of the film: what a load of self-indulgent, confusing, French stylized rubbish. They bemoaned the slow pace of the film, of the 2 dimensional directing and lack of any action or violent death scenes!

Those words still linger with me now and has made me realise that perhaps a lot of the movie-going public these days feed on the latest sfx pyrotechnics, more ingenious ways of abstract killings, lots of needless sex and not letting a good intelligent story get in the way.

Films like Les Enfants are going to be even more difficult to track down if Hollywood and some of the European studios opt for the fast Buck route to riches.

Les Enfant is a truly wonderful & yet harrowing account of life in a Catholic boys boarding school during the dying embers of the Nazi occupation of France in WW2. One of the new boys happens to be Jewish but the headmaster chooses to keep such identities covert while still offering him sanctuary and an education in spite of all the risks he takes.

To be fair I know little of Louis Malle previous to this film, but I think he must have poured his life's soul into writing & directing Les Enfant.

No detail, harrowing or otherwise, is spared; we see so much beauty amongst the horrors of occupation & collaboration; but also the blossoming relationship between the two lead boys and how initial envy & hatred of the Jew is somewhat diluted by the realities that this is no infantile school game but that life and death for the Jewish boy hangs by a thread if anyone at the school should reveal his true identity.

The final moments are perhaps one of the most sad & dramatic scenes I have ever seen. These days a lot of people would be waiting for some great heroic entrance from a big movie star to sort out all the misery and leave us with a reassurance that "it really wasn't all that bad back then was it".

But there are no heroes at the end of this movie, at least not the kind of heroes Hollywood serves up. The boys in this film are the true heroes right to the very end, primarily for their spirit of humanity in the face of impossible odds.

This is the hard reality of war amongst children growing up not only in the face of their own adolescence (and all the problems that serves), but also with the dark fingered claw of Nazism hanging menacingly like the the Scythe of the Grim Reaper.

This film will move you in so many directions and will hopefully bring you back down to earth from the current Hollywood shallow circus of pap & style-over-content.

Its a difficult film to track down, and the reason for this can be attributed to the first paragraph of this review.

*****/*****

My French teacher FORCED our class to watch this movie. There was collective groaning, whining, complaining, etc. I must admit, I was among the unhappy students. However, within the first 20 minutes, the movie had my full attention. I found the dialogue flawless, the characters captivating, and the plot truly intriguing, and in the final moment very sad. The acting is INCREDIBLE, any American movie with as many child characters would fail miserably.

Anyone watching this movie should NOT be discouraged by the first few minutes. This movie weaves an intricate tale of the horrors of World War II as told from the viewpoint of a boy's boarding school in France. An interesting subject indeed.

I think I have to thank my french teacher for "forcing" us to watch this. "Au revoir les enfants" has piqued my interest in french films, and truly made me realize that not every good movie is American. A must see.

In this spellbinding film, Louis Malle is able to evoke the fear and sadness some children suffer while away from home at a boarding school, the loneliness. Yet he doesn't dwell on sentimentality but only skims it, instead peppering the scenes with the bravura and faux assertiveness of adolescents. Malle and the actors adroitly juggle circumstances and emotions. Ultimately, they capture a terrifying time in history through the eyes and uncertainty of boys who aren't as grown-up as they'd like to think.

The two main characters, Julien Quentin and Jean Bonnet, are beautifully portrayed by two very capable and talented young actors. The supporting cast is equally impressive. The film is directed with a touch of genius, and holds its own when compared to another motion picture masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird.

A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. He becomes the roommate of top student in his class. Rivals at first, the roommates form a bond and share a secret.

The film is based on events in the childhood of the director, Louis Malle, who at age 11 was attending a Roman Catholic boarding school near Fontainebleau. One day, he witnessed a Gestapo raid in which three Jewish students and a Jewish teacher were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. The school's headmaster, Père Jacques, was arrested for harboring them and sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen. He died shortly after the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army, having refused to leave until the last French prisoner was repatriated.

Generally speaking, I much prefer the earlier work of Malle. "Zazie" and "Elevator to the Gallows" are both great. People tend to like his later work, including this film and "My Dinner With Andre". I will give this film credit for one thing: it is uncompromising, and nice to see Malle opted for the French. By this point, he was married to Candice Bergen and living in Beverly Hills, and could have easily made this a Hollywood picture. He chose not to.

Like most people, Malle had an uneventful childhood as he attended a boarding school in France. Unlike most people, Malle felt a need to make a movie about this rather dull period of his life. There is nothing very interesting about watching boys going through their daily routines at school. There is no plot, just random episodes that fail to sustain a narrative flow. There's an extended scene where the two main characters are separated from their troop while playing a game in the woods. It seems like it's building up to something dramatic, but it just fizzles out. The final scene is powerful, but does not warrant having to sit through the rest of this underwhelming drama.

Louie Malle's film is a deeply personal examination of the Holocaust, childhood friendship and accidental betrayal. Its young protagonists are affable without being overly sweet or cloying, and despite the semi-autobiographical nature of the story, Malle never gives over to cheap sentimentality the way Steven Spielberg might. While this is one of the films that got lost in the quagmire of Orion Classics, other titles from this period have been rescued and released on DVD through MGM. Long since out of print on VHS, it's shameful this film isn't readily available to those who might wish to examine the Holocaust from a different cinematic perspective, or to those seeking a powerful story that never falls prey to pathos.

In 1944, the upper class boy Julien Quentin (Gaspard Manesse) and his older brother François travel to the Catholic boarding school in the countryside after vacations. Julien is a leader and good student and when the new student Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejtö) arrives in the school, they have friction in their relationship.

However, Julien learns to respect Jean and discovers that he is Jewish and the priests are hiding him from the Nazis. They become best friends and Julien keeps the secret of the origins of Jean. When the priest Jean (Philippe Morier- Genoud) discovers that the servant Joseph (François Négret) is stealing supplies from the school to sell in the black market, he fires the youth. Sooner the Gestapo arrives at school to investigate the students and the priests that run and work in the boarding school.

"Au Revoir les Enfants" is an awarded film written and directed by Louis Malle apparently based on true events during World War II in the boarding school where he studied. The touching story of friendship and betrayal is beautiful and sad, and the boys have great performances. Louis Malle highlights the despicable behavior of collaborators and traitor and the most impressive, the German soldiers are tough but respectful with the French civilians. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Adeus, Meninos" ("Goodbye, Boys")

Au Revoir Les Enfants is an autobiographical film, set during the Nazi occupation of France in the 1940s , when governed the collaborationist govern directed by Petain and Laval. At a boarding school comes Julien, there he befriends the strange boy called Jean Bonnet who is submitted to cruel jokes and bullied by his schoolmates but he holds a mysterious secret. Meantime, the principal of the Catholic boarding school hides Jewish little boys among the other pupils by altering their identities.

An interesting and thought-provoking script about children at a Carmelite convent school run by a good headmaster who hides three Jew kiddies by changing names, surnames and concerning their frienship and treason among them, these are the main premises that develop this enjoyable film. It is an emotionally wrenching drama, as well as a sombre, lovingly detailed movie, regarding goodness, comradeship, friendship, but also lies, bigotry, and betrayal that ends tragically . Being based on real events, upon an incident from filmmaker Malle's infancy, as being a student he was at a boarding school. Being made in 1987 when other films with similar themes exhibited on the big screen, such as Empire of the sun by Steven Spielberg and Hope and glory by John Boorman. The very young cast is unknown, exception for Irene Jacob as the piano teacher, but all of them giving agreeable acting.

It contains evocative and adecuate cinematography by Renato Berta, as well as sensitive musical score. The motion picture was splendidly directed by Louis Malle whose emotional power remains undeniable. This pic is deemed to be his best movie to date and quite possibly the film results to be the best he ever made. It won several prizes as 1988 British Academy Award to director, Cesar Award to Art direction, Set design, cinematography, Sound, Writing, director, Film and L. A. Film Critics to Foreign Film, and Venice Film Festival to best film. Director Louis Malle who married Candice Bergen is considered to be one of the best French directors of film history . He made good movies, usuallly with big name actors playing intelligent dramas and regarding interesting and brooding issues. As Malle directed various important films as "Frantic" , "The lovers" with Jeanne Moreau, "A very private affair" , "Viva Maria" with Brigitte Bardot and Moreau, "The fire within", "Spirits of the dead" , "Murmur of the heart", "Pretty baby" with Brooke Shields, My dinner with Andre, Atlantic City with Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, "Crackers", "Alamo Bay" with Ed Harris, "May fools" , "Damage" with Jeremy Irons and "Vanya on 42nd Street", among others. Rating : 7/10. Better than average. Well worth watching. Essential indispensable seeing.

Beautiful film. So rich and powerful and true; I was literally amazed at the strength in all 3 of those. I think the brilliance comes from the simplicity and subtleties in the themes and plot. The development of the bond between the boys was brilliantly portrayed - as were their performances. The way Germans were presented was effective because of the way it seems objectively shown through the children's eyes. Also the German they were speaking was not subtitled so I could sympathise with their frustration of mystery and confusion with them. The ending almost had me in tears. That is genuine emotion. The final narration really touched me. A film directed with passion. If only it weren't so dry at the start. One of my favourite films from one of my favourite directors.

8/10

This movie is perfect!! I watched it when I was 11 years old, and now, I see this Malle film as the best work that he could be done for the world. Thanks Mr. Malle. I hope that you met with Kipperlstain in Heaven. ;-) The friendship in the "Au revoir les enfants" was treated with many sensibility, following all steps of human nature. Julien and bonnet do not became friends at the beginning, but their interests one by the other move tears. This aspect will become the movie more beautiful. Enjoy this movie. I had it as my preferred.

"Goodbye, Children - Au revoir les enfants" is a Drama - War movie in which we watch a new student arriving in a French boarding school which is running by priests during World War II. Despite that he is very clever and top of his class he has a big secret which has to be kept secret not only from him but also from his roommates.

I have to admit that I did not expect this movie to be so good. I really enjoyed it because it had a very interesting plot with some very well placed plot twists and it presented very well the influence of World War II to people and especially to children. I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie because it's a life lesson with a powerful and true meaning.