Au revoir les enfants



"Au revoir les enfants! A bientôt!"

Au Revoir les Enfants (Goodbye Children) is a 1987 semi-autobiographical film by Louis Malle. Set in a small Carmelite boarding school in occupied France in the winter of 1943, it tells the story of the friendship between two young boys, one Catholic and one Jewish.

We meet Julien Quentin as he's reluctantly boarding the train from Paris to go back to school after the winter holidays. As everyone settles into the dorm Father Jean, the headmaster, introduces Jean Bonnet, a new student who gets the bed next to Julien's. As life in the Catholic boarding school settles into a routine punctuated by air raids, visits from the militia and black-market shenanigans, Julien starts noticing strange things about his new classmate. He starts snooping and eventually discovers Jean Bonnet is really Jean Kippelstein, and is Jewish. The two boys grow closer as Julien tries to learn more about Jean's life, and starts asking questions about what it is that's so terrible about Jews anyway.

The film is a fictionalized account of real events; Jean Bonnet, Father Jean and the other Jewish boys are all people Louis Malle met in school as a boy, with different names but the same stories. However he never did build a friendship with the boy Jean Bonnet is based on the way Julien did with Jean, and he's said in interviews that he always regretted this fact, which is why he made this film.

Most of the film is a fairly light Boarding School Slice of Life story, with commentary about life in France under the Occupation and antisemitism thrown in. And then there's. It got lots of awards and is quite popular in History classes in France and French classes abroad.

"Student : What happened ? Other student : They got arrested by the Boches ! German soldier : Can the 'Boches' get their blanket back ?"
 * All Germans Are Nazis : Played straight in that all the Germans shown are soldiers and thus literally Nazis for all intents and purposes, but averted in that while they're clearly the enemy they aren't portrayed as absolute evil. One officer kicks out militiamen who were harassing an old Jewish man in a restaurant, and another rescues Julien and Jean when they're lost freezing in the forest after curfew and brings them back to the school.

"François: Women, my boy, they're all whores. bumps into someone right behind him Oh, sorry Sister..."
 * Black Market : an important part of the boys' life, until.
 * Boarding School
 * Bonding Over Missing Parents : Julien tries to do this as Jean hasn't seen his father in two years and Julien's father works in Lille so he hardly ever sees him either.
 * Card-Carrying Villain : Dr. Müller probably has an actual card to prove it, too.
 * Les Collaborateurs : a lot of them, but  is the biggest example.
 * Doting Parent : Julien's mother.
 * Duet Bonding : Jean and Julien on the piano.
 * Foreshadowing : At the beginning of the film Julien's mother says she'd like to disguise herself as a boy and go to school with him and it would be their secret. Yeah, none of those concepts will be echoed in the story at any point.
 * Friend in the Black Market : What would we do without you, Joseph ?
 * Gestapo : Well, duh.
 * Greedy Jew : Invoked by Joseph when Julien drives a hard bargain for his stamps.
 * Good Shepherd : Father Jean.
 * Laser-Guided Karma : Father Jean  although he himself says it's an injustice. It doesn't take long for the consequences of that decision to come and bite him in the ass...
 * La Résistance : mentioned surprisingly rarely but Father Jean is implied to be a member.
 * Missing Mom : Jean hasn't heard from his mother in three months.
 * Momma's Boy : Julien. When he isn't saying he hates her for sending him to boarding school...
 * Not So Different : Julien quickly realizes this once he starts asking questions about why it is Jews are so reviled.
 * Open Mouth, Insert Foot
 * Open Mouth, Insert Foot

"Julien : I've got the treasure ! We've won ! The Greens have won ! flapping sound of birds taking flight, creaking sound of branches. Pan to the completely empty forest. Oh, and it's winter and night will probably fall soon."
 * Pyrrhic Victory : Julien, in the treasure hunt.


 * Suspiciously Specific Sermon : Wow, who knew that priest would be the type to hide Jewish refugees ?
 * Truth in Television