Goodbye, Children (1987) User Reviews

Brilliant

[gbill-74877 · 9/10 · 14 April 2019]

"More than 40 years have passed, but I'll remember every second of that January morning until the day I die."

Part of what makes this autobiographical film from Louis Malle so powerful is that a big portion of its coming of age material is universal. In a Catholic boarding school we see hazing and random bullying while ineffectual headmasters look the other way, bedwetting, reading after hours, playground battles, curiosity about girls, and the kind of childhood events that get remembered for life, like getting lost in the woods. In other words, it's just boys trying to get through the difficulties of growing up, and really could be any group of boys, at any time.

But of course this isn't just any period, it's occupied France during WWII, and while the school full of affluent kids seems mostly insulated from that, danger lurks. Three new boys who have been admitted and given new names are secretly Jews, a fact which gradually becomes known by Julien, one of the smarter students (Gaspard Manesse, playing the young Malle). He has a rivalry and a friendship with one of the new boys (played soulfully by Raphaël Fejtö), and the nuances of their relationship not only felt authentic, but it made it hard to know how the film would play out.

I love the dimensions of the film, including the differing Catholic responses to the Jewish issue in Vichy France - some good, some bad. There is also an axis of rich/poor, and I loved the sermon where the priest shocks the visiting parents by criticizing the behavior of the wealthy. Lastly, the use of the Chaplin film 'The Immigrant' (1917) within the film is pitch perfect, and a masterful touch.

Au revoir les enfants

[sharky_55 · 8/10 · 5 March 2016]

Upon the first viewing of Au revoir les enfants, we are as engrossed into the mystery of Jean Bonnet as the young Julien Quentin is. And on a second viewing, the little clues become a great deal clearer, and we are able to piece together the puzzle a little quicker than the inquisitive young boy. But of course the modern older viewer has the frame of context and knowledge that Julien does not have - he knows the telltale signs of a Jew, but cannot figure out why they are hunted and persecuted so diligently, when all he sees is one of his close friends. And so the entire film is tinged in regret; even as Jean reminds him that he would have been caught anyway, we feel the chain of events that lead to that monumental morning being so painful to remember, and that one fatal glance that led to a death on his hand.

Louis Malle works with his memories and experiences, and here he has crafted a group of young schoolboys so reminiscent and convincing. He has captured that remarkable knack and ability of young boys to be able to hastily create relationships out of nothing, sever them, and hastily mend them all over. They pipe up at any opportunity to make a joke on someone else's behalf, and take playful violence to the limit, and are all friendly the next day. And any child would remember cheering whenever they got a break from school-work - here it is within the grim context of air raids, but they cheer anyway, and when the teacher starts a prayer, they all instinctively join in.

Why this succeeds is that Malle does not overdo the World War 2 setting; these boys certainly do not take the war so seriously, so he takes on that viewpoint. They playact as knights on stilts and knock each other over as real soldiers fight, but it might as well be another day for them. They trade books with dirty stories in them, and cackle at a rare viewing of Chaplin. When a German soldier stands up to a French collaborator in the restaurant and the whole establishment rallies around an elderly Jewish customer, there is an sinister undercurrent about it, but this is viewed through the innocent lens of Julien, who seems to know that what is happening is bad, and instinctively covers for his Jewish friend, but does not understand why being Jewish is bad thing.

He is at the centre of the narrative, at the tender age where he is still a mummy's boy, but like many blossoming teenagers puts on a braver, cooler front: indeed his first lines to Jean are a thinly veiled threat to not mess with him. He has little moments of cheekiness and intelligence, bartering his mother's jam and pretending to drown in the bathtub to avoid the wrath of taking too long. And there is a subplot of his uncertainty around his future aspirations that links towards the courageous actions of the priest Père Jean; mentors whisper that he does not quite have the calling of priesthood, and his mother coddles and suggests taking on the same occupation as his father in engineering, and in the same vein his piano playing is not quite up to scratch, so he is recommended taking up violin. But he does have those same qualities as Père Jean anyway. A bitter Joseph mocks him for being so pious and generous when it is war and it is every man for himself - "They're just Jews," he spits outs. But it is the rejection of this statement by Julien that rings so true and brave - it is in those small acts of defiance, and those brief friendships that shine brightly in the darkness of the Holocaust, that our humanity remains.

Friendship and Betrayal in Times of War

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 8 October 2011]

In 1944, the upper class boy Julien Quentin (Gaspard Manesse) and his older brother François travel to the Catholic boarding school in the countryside after vacations. Julien is a leader and good student and when the new student Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejtö) arrives in the school, they have friction in their relationship.

However, Julien learns to respect Jean and discovers that he is Jewish and the priests are hiding him from the Nazis. They become best friends and Julien keeps the secret of the origins of Jean. When the priest Jean (Philippe Morier- Genoud) discovers that the servant Joseph (François Négret) is stealing supplies from the school to sell in the black market, he fires the youth. Sooner the Gestapo arrives at school to investigate the students and the priests that run and work in the boarding school.

"Au Revoir les Enfants" is an awarded film written and directed by Louis Malle apparently based on true events during World War II in the boarding school where he studied. The touching story of friendship and betrayal is beautiful and sad, and the boys have great performances. Louis Malle highlights the despicable behavior of collaborators and traitor and the most impressive, the German soldiers are tough but respectful with the French civilians. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Adeus, Meninos" ("Goodbye, Boys")

Au Revoir, Louis Malle.

[MacAindrais · 10/10 · 9 April 2006]

Au Revoir, Les Enfants (1987) ****

What is this film? Is it just a deeply moving, real film? Is it something more - an exorcism of sorts? Louis Malle's 1987 masterpiece 'Au Revoir, Les Enfants' has had much said about it due to its personal nature for Malle. When the movie played at Telluride, Malle cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. I knew the first time i saw the film that it was autobiographical, so perhaps this helped make the film affect me a little more strongly. Whatever the case, Malle has created a heart breaking work of genius.

In a Catholic boarding school during the Nazi occupation of France, Julien Quietin, played by Gaspard Manesse as the character based around Malle, is no ordinary student. He is intelligent and different from the others. The school is also no ordinary boarding school- it has a secret. A new student arrives at the school one day, Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejtö) and becomes a sort of intellectual rival to Julien. After some early hostilities the boys begin to connect, and eventually become good friends.

Malle does not rely on overly dramatic sequences where not necessary as a way to build up the plot. Instead he shows us the monotonous daily routines of life at the school: prayers, mass, classes, music and exercise classes, and even air-raids.

Eventually, Julien comes to realize that his new friend is a Jew. He is too young to really understand what the big deal is. What is the problem with Jews he later asks? During parents visitation, Julien takes Jean along with his family as Jean has not seen his father in two years, or heard from his mother in months. While at the restaurant, French collaborators come in and begin harassing a long time customer because he is Jewish in a 'No-Jews-allowed' restaurant. Things seem like they are about to explode for the young boys but to their, and our, surprise the collaborators are thrown out by some German soldiers who are eating at the next table over.

We see the fear in Jean's eyes every time the Germans come near, and in one intimately close instance after the boys had been lost in the woods and stumbled upon a road and unrealizingly flag down a car driven by Nazi soldiers, Jean's turn to actions as he attempts to run away only to be caught. The soldiers do not realize that Jean is a Jew, or that the priest has been hiding Jews at his school. After all, why would they? They drive the boys back to the school.

These scenes work like magic on screen. The actions and words are hauntingly real and often naive. One day the Gestapo arrives looking for a Jean Kippelstein, and in a moment of unconscious reaction, Julien unwittingly outs his friend. The Jewish students are rounded up, and the priest, Father Jean, is taken away with them and the school is now to be closed.

Louis Malle has said that he wanted to make this film a long time ago, but could not find the strength. The film is not a direct parallel to the real events, but perhaps more a parallel to Malle's memories and guilt about the incidence. The end result on film is a stunningly beautiful and incredibly touching portrait of friendship, guilt, frustration and anger and I'm sure it worked wonders for Malle as an exorcism of his past.

Sometimes there are moments we almost don't realize take place, and often they can be some of the most important in our lives, and 'Au Revoir, Les Enfants' is a haunting testament to how these moments can change your life, for better or for worse.

4/4

Lived-in feeling gives sad film great depth

[Sloke · 10/10 · 5 August 1999]

The movie was a project close to Louis Malle's heart (he was in tears when the film premiered at a film festival in 1987) and it shows in the multi-layered treatment he gives the central setting, this fascinating boarding school with its broad cast of characters. Because there are so many different strands and affecting moments tangential to the central plot, one is not entirely prepared for the finale even if you are expecting it. French film is characteristically digressive, often to a fault, but here it works to splendid advantage. It also lends itself to repeat viewings.

I don't think you need to have lived in occupied Europe to appreciate this wonderful film; it speaks to all of us who have lived through childhood's quickly-passing parade and know its lifelong regrets. That last image of the stone wall is emblazoned in many consciousnesses, as it is in mine.

There are many interesting choices Malle makes in this film. For example, while the central subject is the Holocaust, nearly all the Germans we actually see in the film are fairly decent if nonetheless menacing types. The real villains here are almost entirely French collaborators, which was done I think to call attention to collaboration during a period when the French were dealing with the Klaus Barbie trial. [Barbie was a Gestapo officer who was aided in his work rooting out Resistance leaders by many French collaborators.] But casting French people as the heavies also suggests the central evil of prejudice and oppression is not something exclusive to one nationality, and it broadens the scope of the movie.

The tender treatment Malle affords the Catholic hierarchy in the movie is unusual, too, when you see other more anti-clerical Malle efforts like "Murmur of the Heart." There is an unexpected sense of spirituality throughout this film, somewhat muted but there all the same.

This may well stand as the cinematic masterpiece of a man who, at his best (see also "Atlantic City" and "My Dinner With Andre") was to motion pictures what his countrymen Zola and Hugo were to novels: An artist who filled his canvas with the verve and breadth of human life.

Best french movie, highly recommended

[francheval · 10/10 · 14 February 2006]

"Goodbye children" is to director Louis Malle what "The Pianist" has been to Roman Polanski. These are movies that dealt with intimate matters related to painful childhood experiences, both taking place in occupied Europe during WW2. In both cases, it is palpable that they were movies that these directors had planned to make for a long time, but they waited until they had achieved a considerable degree of recognition at the end of their careers, so that they would feel self assured enough to carry their project out.

"Goodbye children" evolves around two essential guidelines : the first one is the historical background of France during WW2. The second one is about childhood friendship and loss.

There are quite a lot of movies that were set in France during WW2, but the matter of collaboration of the French with the Germans was still a sensitive subject in 1987. A decade before, Louis Malle had made a film called "Lacombe Lucien", portraying a young French peasant entering the Gestapo as a way of social promotion, and it caused quite a controversy. Things had quietened a bit though, when "Goodbye children" came out, and most of the people who had lived through the period as children seemed to be pleasantly reminded of childhood memories, as the boarding school and its characters appears to be a very good reflection of reality.

Ugly as it has been, collaboration was nothing else as a survival policy. In war time and or/dictatorship, people rarely afford to have moral dilemmas, and this is well shown in the movie as a thriving black market goes on among children at the boarding school. The character of Joseph, an illiterate limping cook, is the one who gets blamed when the black market scandal breaks out, and loses his job. He is also the one who is going to sell out everybody, by revenge. He betrays because he feels betrayed. When one has seen "Lacombe Lucien", it impossible not to make a link between the two characters.

"Goodbye children" is also a very good study of the division among French people at the time. When an old Jewish man is arrested at the restaurant by the French "milice" (political police under the Vichy regime), there is as much applause as protest. What comes as a surprise is the positive role played by the church, impersonated here by Father Jean, who is in fact a resistant hiding Jewish children and holds provocative sermons during mass. There definitely existed such priests, and it is all the more surprising to get that portrayal from a left-wing director like Louis Malle.

The plot evolves around two very different young boys. One, Julien, comes from a typical French upper-class family, he is both gifted and spoiled. The other, Jean, is the typical Jewish boy, brilliant but secretive. Of course, no one among the college boys knows that Jewish kids are hiding there under false identities. Julien is at first both irritated and intrigued by this odd rival, but as they confront, they gradually become implicit allies. Their bonding is well illustrated by a few scenes, for example when they get lost together in the woods, or when they play piano during a bomb alert.

As it can be expected from twelve year old boys, they only scantly express an attachment which becomes all the more real. The very fact that a film about child friendship is done by a director who is past fifty is a revealer of its very importance in a whole lifetime. Julien only realizes the price of it when Jean is arrested by the Gestapo, and waves discreetly as he walks out the college door, never to be seen again. The final shot of Julien's disarrayed face, which appears chillingly mature for the first time, is a very powerful one. But well, Louis Malle was not an amateur.

"Goodbye children" is also a major film about loss, and it gets all the more effective in doing so that it ends abruptly, leaving you with a feeling of irreversibility. You never quite know how long you are going to know someone, how long you still will be there, you are rarely quite aware when you see someone for the last time. It is only when people are gone forever that you can realize how meaningful they were to you.

If you are studying French or interested in French culture, this is really a movie which, as a Frenchman myself, I would recommend because it is both excellent, accessible and representative. Unsurprisingly, it received several Cesars, including the one of the best film of the year (Cesars are our French equivalent of Oscars).

Children hide a terrible secret in this film masterpiece

[Sonatine97 · 10/10 · 9 July 2000]

On seeing this movie several years ago my accompanying colleagues said of the film: what a load of self-indulgent, confusing, French stylized rubbish. They bemoaned the slow pace of the film, of the 2 dimensional directing and lack of any action or violent death scenes!

Those words still linger with me now and has made me realise that perhaps a lot of the movie-going public these days feed on the latest sfx pyrotechnics, more ingenious ways of abstract killings, lots of needless sex and not letting a good intelligent story get in the way.

Films like Les Enfants are going to be even more difficult to track down if Hollywood and some of the European studios opt for the fast Buck route to riches.

Les Enfant is a truly wonderful & yet harrowing account of life in a Catholic boys boarding school during the dying embers of the Nazi occupation of France in WW2. One of the new boys happens to be Jewish but the headmaster chooses to keep such identities covert while still offering him sanctuary and an education in spite of all the risks he takes.

To be fair I know little of Louis Malle previous to this film, but I think he must have poured his life's soul into writing & directing Les Enfant.

No detail, harrowing or otherwise, is spared; we see so much beauty amongst the horrors of occupation & collaboration; but also the blossoming relationship between the two lead boys and how initial envy & hatred of the Jew is somewhat diluted by the realities that this is no infantile school game but that life and death for the Jewish boy hangs by a thread if anyone at the school should reveal his true identity.

The final moments are perhaps one of the most sad & dramatic scenes I have ever seen. These days a lot of people would be waiting for some great heroic entrance from a big movie star to sort out all the misery and leave us with a reassurance that "it really wasn't all that bad back then was it".

But there are no heroes at the end of this movie, at least not the kind of heroes Hollywood serves up. The boys in this film are the true heroes right to the very end, primarily for their spirit of humanity in the face of impossible odds.

This is the hard reality of war amongst children growing up not only in the face of their own adolescence (and all the problems that serves), but also with the dark fingered claw of Nazism hanging menacingly like the the Scythe of the Grim Reaper.

This film will move you in so many directions and will hopefully bring you back down to earth from the current Hollywood shallow circus of pap & style-over-content.

Its a difficult film to track down, and the reason for this can be attributed to the first paragraph of this review.

*****/*****

touching film; probably based on an actual event

[msalifa · 22 June 2003]

This is a very moving film, most likely based on an actual event. The Carmelite priest,Lucien Bunel (1900-1945, "Pere Jacques") was founder and director of the Petit College d'Avon, near Fontainebleau. He was arrested on Jan. 15, 1994, accused of hiding 3 Jewish boys among his students, and was deported to the infamous Mauthausen concentration camp. He died in Linz, Austria on June 2, 1945. Malle's film depicts the intense trauma of Jewish children who were separated from their families and forced to take on a new identity in hiding, always afraid of being found out. They also faced the dilemma of how to maintain their Jewishness in the setting of a Catholic school. So, not just another war movie, this film depicts some of the real struggles facing hidden children, many of whom were saved by courageous Christians in Europe.

Friendships, coming of age and loss of innocence during World War II...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 24 October 2007]

Emotionally engrossing coming of age story for boys at a French Catholic boarding school during World War II, where subtle changes in friendship evolve during a time when Jews were being persecuted by the Nazis and sent to extermination camps. Told from the boyhood viewpoint of children, it captures the fearful nature of children under enormous pressure from outside sources they cannot comprehend.

The semi-biographical account by Louis Malle of a time he spent at such a boarding school is driven by the focus on two boys: Julien (GASPARD MANESSE) and Jean (RAPHAEL FEJTO), a French boy and a Jewish lad, respectively. They carry the main burden of the story and are both excellent in a cast that is uniformly good.

The rambunctious behavior of a bunch of Catholic school boys is something I can relate to personally, having sung in a choir as a boy where I was surprised at the ruffians who, behind the scenes, were like street youths full of boyish pranks and rough-housing, until summoned to walk out to the altar of the church, hands clasped in front of them like little cherubs. This aspect of the French boys in the film rang true to me, their behavior being very true to life.

The story is compelling, dealing as it does with the Nazis determined to find every Jewish lad they could, aided sometimes by collaborators who for one reason or another turned in Jews to the German officers. The ending is particularly poignant and well acted.

Highly recommended and stands as a reminder of the cruelties of childhood and war.

child's memory of occupation

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 20 October 2016]

After a few years making movies in the United States, Louis Malle returned to his native France and made "Au revoir les enfants", based on his memories of growing up in Nazi-occupied France. The movie focuses on the friendship between two boys in a Carmelite boarding school, one of whom is keeping his real identity secret.

A particularly effective scene is in the restaurant. There are some Wehrmacht officers at a table, but they keep to themselves. Then the Milice enters and orders a Jewish patron out of the restaurant. The Wehrmacht officers then order the Milice to leave. This emphasizes not only the role of the Vichy government, but also the role of the collaborators in every country that Germany occupied.

I haven't seen all of Malle's movies, but this is probably the best of his movies that I've seen. The final scene has to be one of the most chilling in cinema history. I recommend the movie.

Truly Captivating

[cathrihn · 7/10 · 15 May 2001]

My French teacher FORCED our class to watch this movie. There was collective groaning, whining, complaining, etc. I must admit, I was among the unhappy students. However, within the first 20 minutes, the movie had my full attention. I found the dialogue flawless, the characters captivating, and the plot truly intriguing, and in the final moment very sad. The acting is INCREDIBLE, any American movie with as many child characters would fail miserably.

Anyone watching this movie should NOT be discouraged by the first few minutes. This movie weaves an intricate tale of the horrors of World War II as told from the viewpoint of a boy's boarding school in France. An interesting subject indeed.

I think I have to thank my french teacher for "forcing" us to watch this. "Au revoir les enfants" has piqued my interest in french films, and truly made me realize that not every good movie is American. A must see.

Stunning Work of Art

[bouncingoffwall · 10/10 · 6 September 2003]

In this spellbinding film, Louis Malle is able to evoke the fear and sadness some children suffer while away from home at a boarding school, the loneliness. Yet he doesn't dwell on sentimentality but only skims it, instead peppering the scenes with the bravura and faux assertiveness of adolescents. Malle and the actors adroitly juggle circumstances and emotions. Ultimately, they capture a terrifying time in history through the eyes and uncertainty of boys who aren't as grown-up as they'd like to think.

The two main characters, Julien Quentin and Jean Bonnet, are beautifully portrayed by two very capable and talented young actors. The supporting cast is equally impressive. The film is directed with a touch of genius, and holds its own when compared to another motion picture masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Autobiographical Malle

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 9 April 2015]

A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. He becomes the roommate of top student in his class. Rivals at first, the roommates form a bond and share a secret.

The film is based on events in the childhood of the director, Louis Malle, who at age 11 was attending a Roman Catholic boarding school near Fontainebleau. One day, he witnessed a Gestapo raid in which three Jewish students and a Jewish teacher were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. The school's headmaster, Père Jacques, was arrested for harboring them and sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen. He died shortly after the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army, having refused to leave until the last French prisoner was repatriated.

Generally speaking, I much prefer the earlier work of Malle. "Zazie" and "Elevator to the Gallows" are both great. People tend to like his later work, including this film and "My Dinner With Andre". I will give this film credit for one thing: it is uncompromising, and nice to see Malle opted for the French. By this point, he was married to Candice Bergen and living in Beverly Hills, and could have easily made this a Hollywood picture. He chose not to.

Underwhelming

[kenjha · 4/10 · 7 August 2011]

Like most people, Malle had an uneventful childhood as he attended a boarding school in France. Unlike most people, Malle felt a need to make a movie about this rather dull period of his life. There is nothing very interesting about watching boys going through their daily routines at school. There is no plot, just random episodes that fail to sustain a narrative flow. There's an extended scene where the two main characters are separated from their troop while playing a game in the woods. It seems like it's building up to something dramatic, but it just fizzles out. The final scene is powerful, but does not warrant having to sit through the rest of this underwhelming drama.

and hello again Louis Malle!

[dbdumonteil · 23 February 2003]

Possible SPOILERS. After having led a roaming and chaotic life during more than ten years abroad, Louis Malle came back in France and made the movie he was always to make. This one was rewarded in Venise where it won the golden Lion in 1987. "au revoir les enfants" tells the story of a friendship between the son of a wealthy family, Julien and a Jew boy, Jean Bonnet hidden under a false identity. However, at first sight, nothing lets see the start of a friendship between Julien and Jean. Julien feels admiration and curiosity towards this new student but we don't really know why and Jean pretends not to see him. A few events will bring them closer, especially a treasure hunt in the woods... It's a touching, moving and finally tragic story because the intervention of the Gestapo will lead this friendship to an end between the two boys. It's not the first time that a Louis Malle's movie takes place during the second world war. In 1974, "Lacombe Lucien" told the story of a young peasant who found his place in the Gestapo. If this movie had divided the French public, "au revoir les enfants" will provoke the unanimity. Both movies are successful and strong but "Lacombe Lucien" is a rough fiction whereas the other one is partly autobiographical. With this movie, Malle eagered to recall a memory that upset him when he was at school: the arrest of a few Jew children who were hidden under a false identity. This is this memory that he filmed in the last sequence. This last one is carefully prepared and filmed in the minute details as if Malle wanted to recall exactly what he saw it and then don't think about it definitely. This is one of Malle's most beautiful movies and his last great one.

about friendship first, the horror of the German occupation (very close) second

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 30 November 2009]

Louis Malle's Au Revoir Les Enfants goes head to head with Truffaut's the 400 Blows to creating *the* French film about what's real, and sometimes dark and terrifying, about childhood. Both films have conflicted young protagonists who are just starting to become teenagers, and faced with a question: how to live, or just react, in the world around them? In the case of Malle's film, however, there's a lot more going on in the personal side of things than just an outsider/petty criminal. It's about a boy who finds a friend, without really going out of his way, and then that friendship ending because of something that neither boy can control since one happens to be a Jew. The film doesn't start as some haunting elegy to youth, but by the end it becomes just that, and about the very crucial act of remembering.

Indeed, one of the many strengths of Malle's masterpiece (his best film perhaps alongside Murmur of the Heart, also about a boy) is that it's so carefully remembered from forty years past and brought to life, as if it were happening today, at least emotionally. It's set in a Catholic all-boy's school in 1944 where Julien Quentin is off to learn and be away from his mom and dad, the latter he barely ever sees. There's a new boy, Jean Bonnet, who is attending the school, and immediately (perhaps predictably) he's picked on and bullied, though nothing too terrible that he can't bounce back. He somehow connects with Jean over the coming months, as they become stranded in the woods during a treasure hunt, one teaches the other piano, and Julien sees something rather startling: Jean praying at night with candles out and in a language he doesn't understand. Something else he discovers is his real name- Jean Kippelstein- and that he's a Jew. He has to asks someone first what a Jew is, the response from one of his school-mates simply "A Jew doesn't eat pork."

Malle observes the ways of children without interfering with them, but at the same time creating an atmosphere that is so real that the hangups with melodrama never get in the way. The little dramas of an everyday school-boy life, or just the side-issues at the school (trading objects black-market style, sneaking around a copy of Arabian Nights, keeping up with playing be it on stilts in the playground), or, as it turns out, Julien's own little problems. What Malle does is subtle but extraordinary; by letting the story unfold in this gradual style, with little events building upon one another, a whole picture emerges of the story of these two friends set against this backdrop of Catholic highs and lows, French occupation by the Nazis, and the hint that there may be more than one Jew at the school - one where anti-semitism is noticed but not well experienced. We don't get a full dose of this reality until the scene at a restaurant, where Julien, Jean and Julien's family see it first-hand.

There is a message Malle wants to convey of course, about the ultimate horror of the Nazi regime on good people, some innocent and some trying to do the right thing by hiding others, and we see this particularly in the climax of the story when the Germans come to the school to sniff out any/all Jewish refugees. But this isn't precisely paramount for Malle, or rather it's not the full reason one senses why he made the film and why it's so personal. It's because he knew these people, and that it's about friends and being cared for and being in a bond like the one Julien and Jean have. I wondered going in to the film if it would be more conventional, that it would be about Julien having to hide this secret from the other kids and something building to a point of Jean being found out.

It doesn't work like that, really, except that Malle throws in a hint of existential turmoil: when asked in the class who is Jean Kippelstein Julien, who is the only one who knows, turns his head ever so briefly to Jean, but it's enough to signal the German as to who he is. What's so clever, and just devastating, about this is that it's not Julien's fault, ultimately, if Jean were to be caught, since as it turns out the school is turned upside down for anyone, and eventually three are brought out of the school and sent to Auschwitz. But, by the look on Julien's face, caught in a grip of tragedy, he feels in this moment as an adolescent as if it is his fault. Au revoir les enfants is never forced dramatically and all of its acting and scenes until the last ten minutes are so unforced that its ending is all the more crushing to the soul. It's a heart-rending, powerfully directed portrait of youth, in its ups and downs, and a year that must never be forgotten - not a moment.

Why isn't this available on video/DVD?

[sjlinnyc · 10/10 · 23 June 2002]

Louie Malle's film is a deeply personal examination of the Holocaust, childhood friendship and accidental betrayal. Its young protagonists are affable without being overly sweet or cloying, and despite the semi-autobiographical nature of the story, Malle never gives over to cheap sentimentality the way Steven Spielberg might. While this is one of the films that got lost in the quagmire of Orion Classics, other titles from this period have been rescued and released on DVD through MGM. Long since out of print on VHS, it's shameful this film isn't readily available to those who might wish to examine the Holocaust from a different cinematic perspective, or to those seeking a powerful story that never falls prey to pathos.

The subtle and not subtle anti-Semitism through the eyes of a French boys boarding school

[secondtake · 9/10 · 17 January 2010]

Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

A wrenching, sensitive, all-too-true drama set in a gorgeous French wooded outpost during World War II. The main actors are boys, and they play their parts with unusual conviction, unexaggerated but with intensity. And the anti-Semitism that arises, though inevitable in Nazi territory, comes subtly and really stings. The movie isn't complete without this horror, but the horror is made complete by the really vivid recreation of this kind of private boys school--a period movie at its best.

Director Louis Malle has not only a message, but a sensitive feel for the medium--for making fluid the flow and background of the plots of his films. It's also a fairly complex mix of types, and you can somehow keep them all straight as it goes--as straight as you are meant to as the facts unfold. In the end, it confirms a familiar story of Nazi terror, but one that can't be told too often.

a very touching movie with fine acting

[River4Rain · 10/10 · 10 June 2003]

You could say this is a war-movie, but it's told from a very original POV. You see how the children in the school cope with the war and the occupation by the Germans. The tensed atmosphere in the local boarding school is very well set when a couple of new boys arrive. Rather by accident Julien finds out they're Jewish and that the priests are hiding them. Sadly the boys are discovered and taken away by the Germans in a very touching, though not melodramatic end.

If you want to see a war-movie which shows another side of the occupation, and you like to see a bit of fine acting, this is the one to see!

Compelling and provoking coming-of-age story based on facts from Louis Malle's childhood

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 31 March 2020]

Au Revoir Les Enfants is an autobiographical film, set during the Nazi occupation of France in the 1940s , when governed the collaborationist govern directed by Petain and Laval. At a boarding school comes Julien, there he befriends the strange boy called Jean Bonnet who is submitted to cruel jokes and bullied by his schoolmates but he holds a mysterious secret. Meantime, the principal of the Catholic boarding school hides Jewish little boys among the other pupils by altering their identities.

An interesting and thought-provoking script about children at a Carmelite convent school run by a good headmaster who hides three Jew kiddies by changing names, surnames and concerning their frienship and treason among them, these are the main premises that develop this enjoyable film. It is an emotionally wrenching drama, as well as a sombre, lovingly detailed movie, regarding goodness, comradeship, friendship, but also lies, bigotry, and betrayal that ends tragically . Being based on real events, upon an incident from filmmaker Malle's infancy, as being a student he was at a boarding school. Being made in 1987 when other films with similar themes exhibited on the big screen, such as Empire of the sun by Steven Spielberg and Hope and glory by John Boorman. The very young cast is unknown, exception for Irene Jacob as the piano teacher, but all of them giving agreeable acting.

It contains evocative and adecuate cinematography by Renato Berta, as well as sensitive musical score. The motion picture was splendidly directed by Louis Malle whose emotional power remains undeniable. This pic is deemed to be his best movie to date and quite possibly the film results to be the best he ever made. It won several prizes as 1988 British Academy Award to director, Cesar Award to Art direction, Set design, cinematography, Sound, Writing, director, Film and L. A. Film Critics to Foreign Film, and Venice Film Festival to best film. Director Louis Malle who married Candice Bergen is considered to be one of the best French directors of film history . He made good movies, usuallly with big name actors playing intelligent dramas and regarding interesting and brooding issues. As Malle directed various important films as "Frantic" , "The lovers" with Jeanne Moreau, "A very private affair" , "Viva Maria" with Brigitte Bardot and Moreau, "The fire within", "Spirits of the dead" , "Murmur of the heart", "Pretty baby" with Brooke Shields, My dinner with Andre, Atlantic City with Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, "Crackers", "Alamo Bay" with Ed Harris, "May fools" , "Damage" with Jeremy Irons and "Vanya on 42nd Street", among others. Rating : 7/10. Better than average. Well worth watching. Essential indispensable seeing.

Malle's masterpiece

[Polaris_DiB · 9/10 · 7 August 2006]

I've seen this movie twice, and in the context of the situations I've seen them provides two good ways to approach this film, so I'll do both.

The first context was when I saw it in French class in high school. Beyond just being the typical "movie during class!" experience, I thought it was pretty amazing anyway: the two children actors who play Julien and Bonnet are extremely talented and perfectly encapsulate two children of the period, the story is heart-felt and visceral at the same time, and the ending has a tendency to stick in ones conscience.

At the very least you have that. But in the context of the 3 Films of Louis Malle box set released through Criterion, it has its own aspect of interest. The first is how it combines the two themes of the previous two films, coming-of-age and the German occupation of France, into what Malle seems to be wanting to talk about all along. The most important thing is that this time it's true. You don't even need to research that, you can feel it as you watch.

Not that it isn't without it's stylizations of cinema, but that's what makes it great. Especially amazing is the fear that runs throughout it, even in smaller scenes. The two key moments involving this fear, though, are especially great: the woods and the end. The woods are mostly childish fear, illusive and imagined, yet it gets the spectator's heart pounding. The end is real, and thus much more disturbing and helpless. The change in maturity of the character moves from an abstract ("I think about death all the time") to a concrete ("I'll remember every second of that day for the rest of my life"), and yet the feeling of fear through an artist's mind is still a drive to create something as strong and engaging as this work.

--PolarisDiB

Deserves its status as one of the most acclaimed films from France

[Sergeant_Tibbs · 7/10 · 9 November 2008]

Beautiful film. So rich and powerful and true; I was literally amazed at the strength in all 3 of those. I think the brilliance comes from the simplicity and subtleties in the themes and plot. The development of the bond between the boys was brilliantly portrayed - as were their performances. The way Germans were presented was effective because of the way it seems objectively shown through the children's eyes. Also the German they were speaking was not subtitled so I could sympathise with their frustration of mystery and confusion with them. The ending almost had me in tears. That is genuine emotion. The final narration really touched me. A film directed with passion. If only it weren't so dry at the start. One of my favourite films from one of my favourite directors.

8/10

It's a beautiful movie...

[ypiva · 10/10 · 16 August 2004]

This movie is perfect!! I watched it when I was 11 years old, and now, I see this Malle film as the best work that he could be done for the world. Thanks Mr. Malle. I hope that you met with Kipperlstain in Heaven. ;-) The friendship in the "Au revoir les enfants" was treated with many sensibility, following all steps of human nature. Julien and bonnet do not became friends at the beginning, but their interests one by the other move tears. This aspect will become the movie more beautiful. Enjoy this movie. I had it as my preferred.

Amazing...

[Thanos_Alfie · 7/10 · 8 May 2020]

"Goodbye, Children - Au revoir les enfants" is a Drama - War movie in which we watch a new student arriving in a French boarding school which is running by priests during World War II. Despite that he is very clever and top of his class he has a big secret which has to be kept secret not only from him but also from his roommates.

I have to admit that I did not expect this movie to be so good. I really enjoyed it because it had a very interesting plot with some very well placed plot twists and it presented very well the influence of World War II to people and especially to children. I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie because it's a life lesson with a powerful and true meaning.

It seemed a bit pointless to me. I didn't get it.

[schmidtmike555-1 · 3/10 · 17 May 2008]

I remember watching this movie in my French class a while ago. The whole time I was watching it, I was waiting for a main conflict to arise and bring about a plot line, but this event didn't arrive until the very end of the movie. I thought something important might happen when the Nazis first capture the boys- I was expecting one of them to be sent to a concentration camp, but the Nazis simply drive them back to the school. It seemed a bit anti-climatic. I know it's not an action movie that needs a climax like that, but the entire movie seemed a bit boring and uneventful. It seemed more like a documentary filming the life of a student in France in the 1940s rather than a feature film about a boy's life during WWII.

This made the movie extremely realistic, which is a definite plus, but it seemed too realistic for its own good. Very little of the movie focused on the war itself compared to the main character's life at school. And when you have a movie set during WWII in Europe, with the actual climax of the film involving the Germans, you expect the movie to actually be about the war.

Other than the plot, I don't have many other complaints about this movie. The writing, acting, directing, etc. were fine. For a movie with a rating of 8.1, it should get some people to talk about it, but when my class finished the movie, we all felt sort of indifferent after watching it. No one talked about whether they liked it or not. So the reason I give this movie a rating of 3/10 is not necessarily that I hated the movie, but that I feel the movie is very overrated.