In 1944, the upper class boy Julien Quentin (Gaspard Manesse) and his older brother François travel to the Catholic boarding school in the countryside after vacations. Julien is a leader and good student and when the new student Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejtö) arrives in the school, they have friction in their relationship.

However, Julien learns to respect Jean and discovers that he is Jewish and the priests are hiding him from the Nazis. They become best friends and Julien keeps the secret of the origins of Jean. When the priest Jean (Philippe Morier- Genoud) discovers that the servant Joseph (François Négret) is stealing supplies from the school to sell in the black market, he fires the youth. Sooner the Gestapo arrives at school to investigate the students and the priests that run and work in the boarding school.

"Au Revoir les Enfants" is an awarded film written and directed by Louis Malle apparently based on true events during World War II in the boarding school where he studied. The touching story of friendship and betrayal is beautiful and sad, and the boys have great performances. Louis Malle highlights the despicable behavior of collaborators and traitor and the most impressive, the German soldiers are tough but respectful with the French civilians. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Adeus, Meninos" ("Goodbye, Boys")

There's not a whole lot negative to say about the film. This is yet another excellent film about the holocaust. What I especially like about it is that it offers a view that is not typical of other films (i.e., the perspective of children in a boarding school). This unusual perspective lifts it about other holocaust films--nearly to the same level as the wonderful Shop On Main Street (from Czechoslovakia). It, too, had an unusual perspective.

The one thing, though that surprised me was that there were some sympathetic German soldiers in the film--such as the one who told the self-important French collaborator to leave the restaurant and leave the Jewish man alone as well as the apparently decent soldiers that brought the two lost boys home. Though surprising, it did add to the picture in that both good and bad Germans as well as good and bad Frenchmen are presented.

This film would be acceptable to watch by most anyone. Despite Malle having made many non-family friendly films, this one has very little objectionable material. For younger viewers, I would recommend watching the film with them, as it is sure to bring up a lot of confusion and emotional issues for younger viewers.

Absolutely love foreign language films, whether French, German, Spanish, Italian or Russian etc and of all decades and genres. And what, admittedly not enough but enough to judge him a very talented director with some great films in his filmography, has been seen so far of Louis Malle has not been less than good or interesting, which is a much better standard for most directors in lesser efforts. Some films when directors were at their worst were real misfires.

1987's 'Au Revoir Les Enfants', translated into English as "goodbye children", is semi-autobiographical and is Malle's most personal film, being very much a memoir. It also is a contender for his most emotionally powerful film and is among his very best. What's more, 'Au Revoir Les Enfants' is a fantastic film on its own, one of the best and most emotional films seen in a long time. Its two Oscar nominations, for foreign language film and original screenplay, as well as many other awards (wins and nominations),were more than richly deserved.

Malle is a big reason as to why 'Au Revoir Les Enfants' makes as much impact in the way it does. There is so much passion and sensitivity in his directing, and he does it without sentimentalising or being gratuitously graphic in its depiction of friendships and cruelty. The film manages to be uncompromising and remarkably does not take sides, which was unexpected for a subject as difficult as this one (as difficult as one can get).

It's beautifully filmed, without being over-glamorous and with the right amount of grit. On top of not being one-sided in its depiction of a brave subject, 'Au Revoir Les Enfants' is also one of the honest and poignant portrayals of friendship and youth, again because of the realism and not sentimentalising even though there are parts that are appropriately gentle. In a way that's easy to relate to. There is some nice use of Schubert and Saint Saens too.

The script provokes a lot of thought. The ending is chills personified and really brought tears to my eyes. The portrayal of war and its impact on the characters is harrowing, although the pace is slow it never felt dull due to being so emotionally invested. The characters are very much rootable and well acted across the board, have not seen such beyond the years performances from younger cast members in a while.

Overall, fantastic. 10/10