Running Time: 104 minutes
Directed By: Louis Malle
Written By: Louis Malle
Main Cast: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Francine Racette, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Francois Berleand
Click here to view the trailer
MALLE HAT TRICK: PART THREE OF THREE
With today comes the finale of my three film salute to Louis Malle and probably his most acclaimed film, "Au revoir les enfants" - another story based on his own childhood.
The film takes place at a Catholic boarding school for boys and opens with our main character, Julien Quentin (Manesse) pleading with his mother not to make him go and ultimately boarding a train and going. Despite the fact that he's a popular boy at school, Julien doesn't care for any of his classmates. He gets along with them because he's forced to, but would rather be elsewhere. When new student Jean Bonnet (Fejto) arrives at school, he is submitted to a fair share of bullying from his peers, simply because he's the new kid in town. The film shows daily life at the Catholic school; students attending classes, interacting with one another and getting into fights and arguments, all while World War II rages on around them, causing them to be subject to air raids and rushed into shelters at various times throughout their stay. We see life through Julien's eyes only and are subject to a very childlike observation of the world around him and a world at war, although the war doesn't have much of an impact on the students' lives. After a while, Julien starts to suspect that Jean may be Jewish and while he doesn't really know what a Jew is, he does know that, at this period, Jews are in a danger. After a longer while, Julien befriends Jean and the two trade thoughts about their studies, the books they read and everyday life. Later, Jean's fate falls into further danger when Germans arrive at school looking for Jews.
SPOILER ALERT!
The film was very well made, there were a few things I liked about it, but ultimately it just wasn't for me. I watched, for the most part, waiting for something poignant to happen, something that would peek my interest or grab my attention, but that moment never really came. Therefore, I won't be able to give this film a glowing review, but I could mildly recommend it to the right audience, as I am able to admit that it was very well made and will have an effect on a lot of it's audience. It was really the ending that was the most memorable part of the film, when a nervous Julien flashes a quick glance toward Jean, tipping the Germans off to his presence, during their search for Jews. This story, based on Malle's own childhood, obviously haunted him throughout his adult years and I wonder just how accurate that ending was. Was it an action from Malle that condemned his Jewish friend? On another site, someone made note of the fact that if they hadn't been friends, Julien probably would have never glanced at Jean and in turn, would have never tipped off the Germans. If you look back further it was actually Father Jean who asked Julien to befriend Jean, feeling sorry for his current situation. The ending WAS perfect, that last final look before Jean Bonnet is taken to Auschwitz, where he would be put to death.
It's easy to see that this event obviously traumatized Malle, for he was able to shoot his picture with childlike eyes, obviously remembering every detail of his time at boarding school. However, the bond between Julien and Jean isn't formed right away and we're forced to muddle through the fairly dull days of life as a child at Catholic school, which wasn't very gripping. I thought I'd take to this one easy, but there's just something about movies with children as their stars that doesn't appeal to me. I've found that I'd rather view the interactions of adults and usually, no matter how poignant the story, kids just don't do it for me. See my review for "Zero for Conduct" and realize that life at a boarding school isn't my cup of tea when it comes to the movies I enjoy.
RATING: 5.5/10 Not bad or anything, just not blow away great, which is what you usually hear about this one. Isn't there some story about this film and Quentin Tarantino and how it influenced his decision to make movies? Anyway, that's the "Malle Hat Trick". "Murmur of the Heart" is the easy winner out of the three and has a shot of at least getting mentioned on the TOP 20 list.
MOVIES WATCHED: 554
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 447
October 17, 2012 2:27pm
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