Average Rating: 9.2/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 1
Louis Malle's autobiographical tale of a childhood spent in a WWII boarding school is a beautifully realized portrait of friendship and youth.
Average Rating: 10/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1
Louis Malle's autobiographical tale of a childhood spent in a WWII boarding school is a beautifully realized portrait of friendship and youth.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 10,216
Gaspard Manesse plays Julien, an 11-year-old Catholic boarding-school resident during the Nazi occupation of France. He is witness to the courage of his instructors, who defy the German's anti-Semitic policies and quietly enroll Jewish children into the school under assumed names. Manesse befriends Jean (Raphael Fejto), one of these "instant Catholics." The refugee children are betrayed by a hostile ex-employee of the school, forcing Julien once more to be a bystander to history as Jean and the
Aug 29, 1987 Wide
Mar 28, 2006
All Critics (23) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (1) | DVD (10)
In this frightening and beautiful film, a schoolboy must learn hard lessons early.
It's a work that has the kind of simplicity, ease and density of detail that only a film maker in total command of his craft can bring off, and then only rarely.
If he'd made his childhood movie earlier in his career -- when he didn't have the sense to be so dispassionate -- it might have packed a meatier punch. Now it's just a deftly aimed poke.
A schoolboy cannot be expected to understand how swiftly violence and evil can strike out and change everything.
In this season of boyhood remembrances, Malle's is the most devastating -- an inspired elegy to little boys lost.
Poignant subtitled WWII story about kids and loss.
One of Louis Malle's most personal and significant films.
Part dream, part nightmare, Au Revoir les Enfants vividly remembers a traumatic moment in time that cannot be forgotten.
Louis Malle, possibly at his best here. The drama is subtle but affecting.
Malle's approach is perfectly suited to the subject -- not in the least because his deliberate pacing conveys a child's sense of time.
Avoids sentimentality, clichés and bombast, as it instead touches the heart in a moving and unforgettable way.
unquestionably Malle's most personal film and arguably his most powerful
As ever, Malle's sensitivity is supreme and his delicate style evocative. [Blu-ray]
The film's quiet integrity finally depends on his avoidance of heroic cliché and stylistic bombast, and on the unindulgent generosity extended towards his characters.
A delicately rendered and exceptionally moving reminiscence of a boyhood friendship cut short by war.
Its so simple yet so beautiful. The actors are convincing and bring the melancholy mood to a new level for late 80's cinema. A great french film that deserves more attention!
December 27, 2011
Super Reviewer
Inspired by real events, a boarding school in World War II, France sets the stage where friendship is realized and youth is corrupted in Goodbye, Children. Moving and unforgettable.
September 10, 2011Super Reviewer
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