Au revoir les enfants: Childhood’s End
By March 27, 2006
“Do you realize,” muses the twelve-year-old Julien Quentin, rapt in the solipsism of early adolescence, “that there’ll never be another January 17, 1944? Never again? . . . I’m Read more »
- France
- 1987
- 105 minutes
- Color
- 1.66:1
- French
- Spine #330
SYNOPSIS: Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Julien | Gaspard Manesse |
| Bonnet | Raphaël Fejitö |
| Madame Quentin | Francine Racette |
| François Quentin | Stanislas Carré de Malberg |
| Père Jean | Philippe Morier-Genoud |
| Père Michel | François Berléand |
| Joseph | François Négret |
| Muller | Peter Fitz |
Credits
| Director | Louis Malle |
| Screenplay | Louis Malle |
| Director of photography | Renato Berta |
| Editor | Emmanuelle Castro |
| Assistant editor | Marie-France Poulizac |
| Assistant director | Yann Gilbert |
| Production manager | Gérald Molto |
| Unit production manager | Jean-Yves Asselin |
| Casting | Jeanne Biras and Iris Carrière |
| Continuity | France La Chapelle |
| Costumes | Corrine Jorry |
| Hair and makeup | Susan Robertson |
| Sound | Jean-Claude Laureux |
| Sound mixer | Claude Villand |
| Foley artist | Daniel Couteau |
| Production design | Willy Holt |
| Production consultant | Christian Ferry |
Disc Features
- Restored digital transfer supervised by director of photography Renato Berta (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Video interviews with Louis Malle biographer Pierre Billard and actress Candice Bergen, Malle’s widow
- Joseph: A Character Study, a profile of the provocative figure from Au revoir les enfants, created by filmmaker Guy Magen in 2005
- The Immigrant, Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 short comedy, featured in the film
- Audio excerpts from a 1988 AFI interview with Malle
- Original theatrical trailer and teaser
- PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film critic Philip Kemp and historian Francis J. Murphy
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
Au revoir les enfants: Père Jacques and the Petit-Collège d’Avon
By March 27, 2006
The site of Louis Malle’s film Au revoir les enfants was the Petit-Collège d’Avon, a residential prep school located on the grounds of the Carmelite monastery Read more »
