Les Innocents (film)

Les Innocents (English: The Innocents) is a 1987 French drama film directed by André Téchiné and starring Sandrine Bonnaire, Simon de La Brosse and Abdel Kechiche. The plot follows a girl who, whilst looking for her runaway brother, encounters a number of people who influence her life. The film was partially inspired by a William Faulkner novel. Téchiné uses several French-Arab relationships to mirror the tensions between France and its former colonies.

Jean-Claude Brialy won a César award for Best Supporting Actor and the film was nominated for three other César awards: Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Music.

Plot

Jeanne, a young woman born and raised in Northern France, is visiting the Mediterranean for the first time. She arrives at the southern French seaport of Toulon to attend the wedding of her older sister Maïté to Nourredine, a North African. However, her main goal is to repatriate her deaf-mute younger brother, Alain, with whom she had been living following the death of their parents. At the wedding celebration, Jeanne meets Klotz, a middle age orchestra conductor prone to drinking. Jeanne re-encounter with Alain is not a happy one. She learns that her teenager brother has been supporting himself pickpocketing under the tutelage of Saïd, a Frenchman of Algerian descent who approached Jeanne on her arrival in the city. Jeanne sleeps next to her brother; but the next morning, Alain runs away stealing all of Jeanne’s money, even a family heirloom that she has brought as a wedding gift for Maïté.