Au Revoir, Les Enfants
I have to thank TCM for doing its 30 Days of Oscars alphabetically this year. Although there is no thematic continuity (Blazing Saddles followed by Blow-up?), it allows me to follow better. Even more, now TCM has streaming videos of all its movies for a few days after, so I was able, at my husband's recommendation to watch this masterpiece by Louis Malle, better known as Murphy Brown's husband (hard to believe).
I rarely cry at the end of a film. This one did it.
Go watch it. It is truly breathtaking. In brief, two upper class brothers are secluded in a Catholic boarding school in France during World War II. The younger one, about 12, is sort of the leader of the pack and looked up to by the other boys for his talents and coolness. The older one is a bit of a turd toward women but has a lot of hutzpah. What they don't know is that the monks are hiding Jewish boys. The younger son, Julien Quentin, becomes friends with a new boy with a secret and who proves to be his competition. Enough said. Go watch it, be prepared to read some subtitles and be blown away by the spirituality and courage of it. Great acting and directing, too.
The ending is profound; very French, but absolutely perfect.
I rarely cry at the end of a film. This one did it.
Go watch it. It is truly breathtaking. In brief, two upper class brothers are secluded in a Catholic boarding school in France during World War II. The younger one, about 12, is sort of the leader of the pack and looked up to by the other boys for his talents and coolness. The older one is a bit of a turd toward women but has a lot of hutzpah. What they don't know is that the monks are hiding Jewish boys. The younger son, Julien Quentin, becomes friends with a new boy with a secret and who proves to be his competition. Enough said. Go watch it, be prepared to read some subtitles and be blown away by the spirituality and courage of it. Great acting and directing, too.
The ending is profound; very French, but absolutely perfect.
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