Louis Malle is fast becoming one of my favorite directors. This was such a quiet and powerful movie. I don’t even want to say much because I think it’s best to go in with no prior knowledge of the story, but I will say that the ending is incredible.

The child performances are amazing as well, particularly the actor who played Julien. His moral journey in the film is mostly internal, yet his complicated feelings were never inaccessible to the audience.

Malle continues to impress me, especially in his ability to add tension without increasing the pace. The last narrative film I saw of his was Elevator to the Gallows, which was similarly tense at key moments, however slow and brooding throughout.

I’m genuinely blown away.

Louis Malle is fast becoming one of my favorite directors. This was such a quiet and powerful movie. I don’t even want to say much because I think it’s best to go in with no prior knowledge of the story, but I will say that the ending is incredible.

The child performances are amazing as well, particularly the actor who played Julien. His moral journey in the film is mostly internal, yet his complicated feelings were never inaccessible to the audience.

Malle continues to impress me, especially in his ability to add tension without increasing the pace. The last narrative film I saw of his was Elevator to the Gallows, which was similarly tense at key moments, however slow and brooding throughout.

I’m genuinely blown away.

I don't feel like I should say anything...

I don't feel like I should say anything...

When my high school French teacher one day decided put on Au Revoir Les Enfants my teen self had no interest in this kind of movie and I even remember protesting to watch Ratatouille instead, looking back that’s truly one of my most shameful memories because not only is Ratatouille not even a French movie (i really have no fucking idea what i was thinking), this movie my teacher chose is one of my favorites of not just French movies but in the history of cinema. To start Louis Malle’s screenplay is an all-timer, this story being a telling of his own life experiences gives everything here an extra layer of power (even though it already had incredible power just from the craft) and the actual writing of the banter between the kids is seriously some of the most authentic I’ve ever seen and my saying that as someone who doesn’t even speak French should fully convey just how human this movie is. Malle also excels behind the camera with gorgeous shots filling this movie wall to wall, you can just feel his personal emotion in the way he holds these shots (that final shot’s obviously the best example of that) and the compliment of the authenticity of the kids’ interactions extends beyond the script into the way Malle had each of them act on screen. Despite the subject matter being incredibly heavy the story itself is quite simple which doesn’t leave me with a whole lot to say, I really can’t emphasize enough how amazing this movie is though and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get their foot in the door of classic French cinema.

When my high school French teacher one day decided put on Au Revoir Les Enfants my teen self had no interest in this kind of movie and I even remember protesting to watch Ratatouille instead, looking back that’s truly one of my most shameful memories because not only is Ratatouille not even a French movie (i really have no fucking idea what i was thinking), this movie my teacher chose is one of my favorites of not just French movies but in the history of cinema. To start Louis Malle’s screenplay is an all-timer, this story being a telling of his own life experiences gives everything here an extra layer of power (even though it already had incredible power just from the craft) and the actual writing of the banter between the kids is seriously some of the most authentic I’ve ever seen and my saying that as someone who doesn’t even speak French should fully convey just how human this movie is. Malle also excels behind the camera with gorgeous shots filling this movie wall to wall, you can just feel his personal emotion in the way he holds these shots (that final shot’s obviously the best example of that) and the compliment of the authenticity of the kids’ interactions extends beyond the script into the way Malle had each of them act on screen. Despite the subject matter being incredibly heavy the story itself is quite simple which doesn’t leave me with a whole lot to say, I really can’t emphasize enough how amazing this movie is though and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get their foot in the door of classic French cinema.

Perhaps one of the best, if not the best World War II films I have seen. A historic page that Malle imbues with his 100% greatest film.

Perhaps one of the best, if not the best World War II films I have seen. A historic page that Malle imbues with his 100% greatest film.