The Movie
A deeply personal story from the exceptional filmmaker Louis Malle, Au revoir les enfants ("Goodbye, Children") is told from the point of a view of Julien, a sensitive boy at a church-run school outside Paris. World War II is raging and the Nazis are occupying France, rounding up Jews and generally making life difficult, as Nazis do. Classes are back in session and Julien meets up with Jean, The New Guy, smart and soft-spoken and rather private.
Very slowly, naturally and without a hint of schmaltz, the two become friends. Not BFFs, not rascally scamps, just two young men who grow to understand and trust each other, for a brief time at least before reality comes crashing down. All of the characters are drawn with a delicate hand, credibly embodying the folly of youth, as well as some surprising contradictions such as sympathetic German soldiers and a very unsympathetic nun. This exquisite humanity serves the film's heartbreaking subject matter, leading us to a haunting conclusion.
The Picture
Supervised and approved by director of photography Renato Berta, the 5:3 master appears to be the same one utilized by Criterion for their 2006 DVD release, albeit in AVC here and now at a much higher bitrate. Save for a huge, pronounced hair at the top center of the screen about 17-and-a-half minutes in, there are no glaring problems and no stark "digital" issues with the 2K 35mm film transfer.
The lovely, subdued palette evokes the nostalgia of the era. Au revoir is often a dark movie, period-accurate without excessive electric lights, but that leaves a lot of murky black silhouettes on the screen, and characters that can blend indistinguishably into the backgrounds. Costumes and set decorations show sufficient if not stunning detail.
The Sound
Criterion gives us another uncompressed linear PCM mono track, albeit transferred from a fairly recent (1987) theatrical mix. There are therefore no discrete effects, no dedicated bass, but memorable little touches within the mono mix: twigs snapping, birds tweeting, the way that leather shoes scrape against cobblestones.
Of course, in a different movie, the air raid scene--when we're underground while bombs fall above--would have been very different, but this is an intimate French character drama. In short, it's all there in the center channel, it's all clear, and it's fine.
The Extras
Actress Candice Bergen, Malle's widow, and film critic/author Pierre Billard each recorded on-camera interviews for Criterion in 2005, presented here. They run 13-and-a-half minutes and 31 minutes respectively, Billard's in French with English subtitles. There is also a five-minute look at the significant supporting character of the kitchen worker Joseph, created for a French film school.
Portions of Charlie Chaplin's 1917 two-reeler The Immigrant are seen in the film, but the entire short is included on the Blu-ray, 25 minutes in HD with a short text introduction. All of the video extras are in high definition. And an audio segment has been edited from Malle's December 7, 1988 appearance at the American Film Institute, 53 minutes in eight chapters, over photographs.
Final Thoughts
Au revoir le enfants will likely endure for all time as a beautiful, moving film, worthy of our highest recommendation. The Blu-ray appears to be a modest upgrade from the DVD, so if you never picked it up in standard-def, this new release might be a good opportunity to add it to your collection.
Product Details
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