Louis Malle’s film based on his own childhood experiences during WWII takes its time and builds slowly to an ending of true emotional power. Because he takes his time and creates real characters, he does not need to resort to melodrama to make us weep, because we are watching events transpire to our friends.
Set during Germany’s occupation of France, Julien Quentin (Gaspard Manesse) is the son of rich parents, who send him off to boarding school against his will. He’s an outgoing popular kid at school with a vein of bully and troublemaker in him. A new kid comes to school named Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejtö), who is often picked on by the other students. He’s smart and musically talented, but he doesn’t pray like all the other Catholic boys and whenever a German officer is around he gets really nervous.
We quickly realize that Jean is Jewish and that the school’s head master Father Jean (Philippe Morier-Genoud, SAFE CONDUCT) is sheltering three Jewish boys from the Nazis. At one point during confession, Father Jean asks Julien to be nice to Jean, because the other boys look up to him. It takes some time for Jean to trust Julien, but their friendship grows. Other key characters include: Julien’s mother (Francine Racette, MR. KLEIN); Joseph (François Négret, CACHE), a poor, handicapped young man who works in the kitchen and runs a black market trade with the students; and Julien’s older brother François (Stanislas Carré de Malberg, JEFFERSON IN PARIS), a budding Resistance fighter.
As a coming-of-age story, the film doesn’t drum us over the head with the bond between Julien and Jean. It does the same with its themes, which deal with tolerance, first tragedy, loneliness and doing what is right for the greater good when it really counts.
Effortless is the best word to describe the film’s approach to its material. What Malle gets so right is Julien’s slow realization that Jean is Jewish. It’s not done with drama, but with quiet acknowledgement and innocent curiosity. We sort of know what is coming in the end, but we are not prepared for it. It takes us off guard like it does Julien. The school is not just a shelter for the three Jewish children, but also a shelter for all the children from the harsh realities of a cruel world.
The title of the film seems common at first, but takes on a great poignancy when you know its context. There’s one sequence where the students are playing in the woods, looking for a hidden treasure that perfectly encapsulates the entire film. Jean asks Julien if there are wolves in these woods. Julien doesn’t answer, but we can almost hear Malle saying, “yes child, there are.”
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
