Au Revoir Les Enfants, a.k.a. Goodbye, Children (1987/The Criterion Collection Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B     Sound: B-     Extras: B     Film: B-

 

 

In 1987's Au Revoir Les Enfants, late director Louis Malle drew from his own experiences as a child during the Second World War.  It was in that time that he was sent away from his family to live in the relative safety of an isolated Catholic School in the French countryside.  He portrays himself in the story as Julien Quentin, a well-liked boy at the school who has some amount of influence on his peers.  Jean Bonnet, a new student, enters the school and is made fun of by the other children, including Julien.  Though the two characters dislike one another at first, they become more receptive to one another after they get into a scuffle, and make fast friends.

 

It becomes apparent that something is amiss with Jean, with his mannerisms and actions pointing to the possibility that he is Jewish, and is at the school to escape placement in a concentration camp.  Although Julien is aware of this secret, he holds onto it.  However, Jean and the other Jewish boys at the school are soon outed after a young cook at the school is caught stealing from the food supply and trading it off to some of the students.  He is vengeful at being singled out for his actions, and informs the Germans that several Jews are being harbored by the staff there.  Soon enough the Germans are in the school, looking to out the young boys hidden in the student population.

 

The film is touching, and has a level of honesty not often seen in movies that deal with war and its effects.  Although Malle has fictionalized the story, you can see that he put an exceptional amount of real-life detail into the character of Julien.  Through him, he peels through the layers of thought that a boy in his time and in this situation might be tossing around.  In the mind of a young boy, not everything is going to be clearly understood, and we see Julien trying to comprehend what makes the Jews different from him, and how he should feel toward them.

 

As an example, the general consensus shared by characters in the film is that the Jews are disliked because they do things better than others, and are viewed as being self-righteous.  Julien himself is shown up by Jean during a piano lesson, which he ruminates on for some time afterward.  Jean also bests him in languages and other studies as well.  Although he decides to befriend him and accept their difference in abilities, you can see the germ of thought that went in a radically different direction for a group of people at the time who sought to be the best themselves.

 

Goodbye, Children was up for two Academy Awards in 1987, but lost in both categories.  It lost out as best foreign language film to the Danish movie, Babette's Feast, but has had good fortune in other areas, as unlike make films from the late '80s, it has had a very graceful aging process.  Were someone not made aware of the year of it could easily be mistaken for a much newer film.

 

This Blu-ray goes a long way toward making the look of the film so fresh.  As usual, Criterion's pursuit of perfection on every level has paid off, and the film looks and sounds gorgeous.  The feature is shown in full 1080p and has a 1.66:1 widescreen aspect ratio.  The transfer looks clearer than ever, though some very fine grain is visible.  The colors do seem a bit muted, and although that is by design, it may not make this the best disc to show off you system with.  The film is subtitled in English, with audio being presented in the original French mono.

 

The supplements here have been carried over from the earlier release of the title to DVD, and include a 20 page booklet containing essays on the film, as well as several interviews; one of which is an audio excerpt from an earlier interview with Malle shortly after the film's release, while the other two recorded specifically for Criterion.  Charlie Chaplin's 1917 short subject, The Immigrant, is featured prominently during one of the film's scenes, and as such, it is also included in its entirety as a bonus feature.

 

The Criterion Collection has really shone on the Blu-ray format, and the marriage of their exceptional attention to detail and Blu-ray's high definition capabilities have resulted in some of the absolute best titles around.  Au Revoir Les Enfants was a great film to watch, and picking it up this edition is highly recommended.

 

 

-   David Milchick