Gaspard Manesse

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.

This sweet musical takes us on a cross-country trip through Senegal, from Dakar to Saint Louis in a battered taxi, as passengers sing their stories.

In Annemasse, Haute-Savoie, Lou, 25, a librarian, and Hugo, 24, a worker, meet Julie, their older sister, who left five years earlier for New York to pursue a career in theater. She returns with Nina, her baby, and adapts with difficulty to the rhythm of this small town. Hugo discovers his older sister, whose life he dreamed of, while Lou takes her return with simplicity, in the present, without asking herself any questions. Through this reunion, they realize that they have become adults, each one choosing a personal life path, each one aspiring to a different happiness than the others.

The oddest things come in pairs. In 1989, there were two foreign films on the market whose titles translated to Errors of Youth or Youthful Indiscretion. One was a Russian film, the other was a French picture, originally titled Erreur de Jeunesse. In this one, would-be poet Francis Frappat breezes through a number of relationships. Of paramount importance to Frappat are his attempts to seduce the lovely Géraldine Danon.