Spare and Sensitive

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2020)

"Au revoir les enfants" is Louis Malle's spare, sensitive exploration of two youths -- one Jewish, the other not -- and their tentative friendship at a religious boys' school during the days of WWII. This is not a movie about big emotional scenes. Malle takes an almost journalistic approach, not ever using music or directorial flourishes to tell us how we should be feeling, but rather letting the fine performances and powerful subject matter speak for themselves. The boys never become necessarily close friends, but they do form a bond forged by loneliness and a mutual respect, which evolves into genuine concern as the one gradually awakens to the very real danger the other faces for being Jewish.
I believe this film is largely autobiographical, and you can tell it is even if you didn't know that going in. It just has that personal touch that autobiographical films have, something you can't necessarily define but which you recognize when you see it. It put me in mind a little bit of Fellini's "Amarcord," though that film mixed in much more humor with its tragedy.
"Au revoir les enfants" received two Academy Award nominations in 1987, one for Best Foreign Language Film and one for Best Original Screenplay. I believe it was a bit of a shocker when it lost the foreign film award to "Babette's Feast," as it had been perceived to be the frontrunner.
Grade: A