Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) 7/10
Quietly moving, this subtle gem of a film is director Louis Malle’s semi-autobiographical tale of life in Nazi controlled France in 1944. To avoid persecution, Jews are forced to hide from the Nazi soldiers. At the start of the semester of a private school, several new students join in, but it soon becomes clear that there is something is different with these students. One of them is Jean Bonnet (played by Raphael Fejtö), a Jewish child who is hiding from the German soldiers. He soon befriends Julien Quentin (Gaspard Manesse), a young French boy born to a wealthy family who is unaware of the significance of antisemitism. A beguiling tale of childhood innocence and friendship, as the guilt of an inadvertent look, Au Revoir Les Enfants ( Goodbye, Children) is a deeply personal film based on Malle’s childhood memories.
While the film is slow-moving at times, the strong and natural performances by the cast as well as the quietly devastating story makes this one of Malle’s best films.
“Mr. Malle treats his young actors without condescension and they, in turn, respond with performances of natural gravity and humor.”- New York Times
“Louis Malle made a lot of films about coming of age and losing childish innocence over his storied career. But none is so powerful as Au Revoir, Les Enfants, Malle’s autobiographical tale of the time he spent in a Franch boarding school during the German occupation of his homeland.”- Christopher Null
“A delicately rendered and exceptionally moving reminiscence of a boyhood friendship cut short by war. “- TVGuide
