A powerful goodbye

Rating: 10/10 (10 June 2019)

Absolutely love foreign language films, whether French, German, Spanish, Italian or Russian etc and of all decades and genres. And what, admittedly not enough but enough to judge him a very talented director with some great films in his filmography, has been seen so far of Louis Malle has not been less than good or interesting, which is a much better standard for most directors in lesser efforts. Some films when directors were at their worst were real misfires.
1987's 'Au Revoir Les Enfants', translated into English as "goodbye children", is semi-autobiographical and is Malle's most personal film, being very much a memoir. It also is a contender for his most emotionally powerful film and is among his very best. What's more, 'Au Revoir Les Enfants' is a fantastic film on its own, one of the best and most emotional films seen in a long time. Its two Oscar nominations, for foreign language film and original screenplay, as well as many other awards (wins and nominations), were more than richly deserved.
Malle is a big reason as to why 'Au Revoir Les Enfants' makes as much impact in the way it does. There is so much passion and sensitivity in his directing, and he does it without sentimentalising or being gratuitously graphic in its depiction of friendships and cruelty. The film manages to be uncompromising and remarkably does not take sides, which was unexpected for a subject as difficult as this one (as difficult as one can get).
It's beautifully filmed, without being over-glamorous and with the right amount of grit. On top of not being one-sided in its depiction of a brave subject, 'Au Revoir Les Enfants' is also one of the honest and poignant portrayals of friendship and youth, again because of the realism and not sentimentalising even though there are parts that are appropriately gentle. In a way that's easy to relate to. There is some nice use of Schubert and Saint Saens too.
The script provokes a lot of thought. The ending is chills personified and really brought tears to my eyes. The portrayal of war and its impact on the characters is harrowing, although the pace is slow it never felt dull due to being so emotionally invested. The characters are very much rootable and well acted across the board, have not seen such beyond the years performances from younger cast members in a while.
Overall, fantastic. 10/10