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.
france
parent child relationship
resistance
vichy regime
holocaust (shoah)
deportation
jew persecution
auschwitz-birkenau concentration camp
national socialism
biography
anti-semitism
best friend
catholicism
resistance fighter
jewish boy
children in wartime