Au revoir les enfants

Au revoir les enfants was released in 1987 and directed by Louis Malle. Rather than simply retelling the plot, the film is worth revisiting for the characters, conflicts and ideas that give its story its identity.

Family and Friendship emerge through what the characters face and the choices they make, giving the story more to explore beyond its immediate plot.

Julien Quentin, Jean Bonnet / Jean Kippelstein and Père Jean do not begin the film seeing one another clearly, and watching those first impressions break down is a big part of why Au revoir les enfants still works.

Elsewhere, during the winter of 1943–44, Julien Quentin, a student at a Carmelite boarding school in occupied France, is returning to school from vacation.

He acts tough to the other students, but is actually a pampered boy who misses his mother deeply. That detail matters because it shapes the way the characters initially see one another.

Saddened to be returning to the monotony of boarding school, Julien's classes seem uneventful until Père Jean, the headmaster, introduces three new pupils. From there, the film can concentrate less on explaining the setup and more on what happens between the people inside it.

Gaspard Manesse plays Julien Quentin. During the winter of 1943–44, Julien Quentin, a student at a Carmelite boarding school in occupied France, is returning to school from vacation.

After a game of treasure hunt, Julien and Jean bond and develop a close friendship. That relationship helps define Julien Quentin beyond the immediate plot mechanics.

Raphaël Fejtö plays Jean Bonnet / Jean Kippelstein.

One of them, Jean Bonnet, is the same age as Julien.

Like the other students, Julien at first despises Bonnet, a socially awkward boy with a talent for arithmetic and playing the piano.

One night, Julien wakes up and finds Bonnet wearing a kippah and praying in Hebrew.

The movie has more on its mind than the basic setup suggests. family sits close to the centre of the film, but it is explored through the characters rather than treated like a lesson.

friendship matters just as much. The film keeps challenging the assumptions its characters make about one another, which is where much of its emotional weight comes from.

The film could hardly be separated from the decade that produced it. Released in 1987, it carries the attitudes, style and filmmaking rhythms of the 1980s without needing to announce them.

It also sits comfortably within the era's drama, coming-of-age and war filmmaking, even if the movie itself is more interesting than any single genre label suggests.

That is part of why it still appears in conversations about 1980s movies and 1980s drama movies. The film has become tied not only to its own story but to the wider memory of what 1980s movies felt like.

Watching Au revoir les enfants now means seeing both what has lasted and what unmistakably belongs to 1987.

What still works best is the human material. Ideas around family and friendship have not stopped being relevant simply because the clothes, language and cultural references belong to another era.

Some moments inevitably land differently for a modern audience. Revisiting an older film properly means enjoying what still works without pretending every choice has aged equally well.

A large part of that staying power comes from the characters. Julien Quentin, Jean Bonnet / Jean Kippelstein and Père Jean are still useful shorthand for the personalities and pressures the film explores.

Carpenter's film has lasted because people continue to recognise something in it. Nostalgia helps, but nostalgia alone does not keep a movie in the conversation for decades.