Review of Au Revoir les Enfants (1987) by Grace H — 08 Aug 2009

Writer-director Louis Malle's ("My Dinner With Andre", "Murmur of the Heart") 1987 masterpiece, "Au revoir les enfants", is a tragically autobiographical story from Malle's own childhood. Although what was taken from fact has remained a mystery, Malle was so haunted by this deeply personal work that he was in tears during it's screening at the Telluride film festival. One might wonder why he didn't make the film earlier, as he was reaching the end of his career in 1987 - but, at the same time, one has to wonder how a man worked up the sort of courage it takes to release a film so revealing.

The film, with a title translated to "Goodbye, Children", takes place in a Catholic boarding school in 1944 Nazi-occupied France. The children are just returning from their Christmas holidays, and a mother of two boys (Francine Racette), Julien (Gaspard Manesse) and Francois (Stanislas Carre de Malberg), wishes her children farewell. Upon arriving back at school, the boys discover that there are three new enrollments this semester. Although the staff keeps it hidden from everyone, including the students, it's not long before we can gather that these are Jewish children taken in for their own safety.

Julien begins a rivalry with one of these boys, Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejto), and doesn't quite understand his mysterious past or his refusal to eat pork. The rivalry eventually blossoms into a friendship, and Julien remains oblivious to just how much danger Jean is in. He asks his brother what Jews are and why they're bad, and is told that they were Christ killers. He still doesn't get it. It's very much a coming-of-age story, but a very dark one in that Julien's growth and maturity stems from his introduction to the nonsensical brutality of man.

It's clearly assumed that Julien is the alterego of Malle, and although Malle never revealed whether or not he had sparked a friendship with a Jewish boy, it's not hard to draw that conclusion. In the film's most tragic scene, Julien unknowingly reveals Jean's identity to the Gestapo and watches as all of the Jewish students are taken from the school and placed in concentration camps. Only then did Julien realize what was at stake.

We see dozens of films about this dark period in history, but "Au revoir les enfants" stands on it's own by telling the story through the confused eyes of a child. This isn't played for pathos, nor is Malle attempting to manipulate us, rather he knows that the horrors of war are illustrated most appallingly through the eyes of an innocent outsider. This is a powerful film with tremendous performances and a great script, and definitely one that hasn't lost it's effect some twenty years later.