"Goodbye, Children" in "The Director Says"

Louisa 2022-01-13 08:01:19

The film director Louis Mahler is one of the famous French directors. He was well-known before New Wave movies. In 1958, "The Elevator to the Gallows" he filmed is considered to be the forerunner of New Wave movies, and he has also become one of the "Four Great Musketeers" of this movement. His "Lover", "Zach in the Subway", "Private Life", "Lacan Lucien", etc. made him one of the outstanding figures in French movies.

Mahler is a dynamic and curious filmmaker. In the late 1960s, he went to India to find creative inspiration, where he filmed "Soul of India" and other films, which were welcomed by the audience, which caused an extraordinary "Indian passion" in the West. In 1977, he came to the United States to film, and stayed there for 10 years, during which he filmed "Atlantic City", "Dinner with Andrea", "Alamo Cave" and other films, which made him extremely One of the few European directors who can compete with American directors. However, as time went on, Mahler’s curiosity disappeared. He said: “I feel that I have gradually lost the distinction from the locals. I can say that my view of the Americas has become normalized and Americanized.”

At the end of 1986, Mahler returned to France, and the first film he returned to the French film industry was "Goodbye, Children". This choice can be said to be a kind of root-seeking consciousness. He confessed: "Goodbye, Children" was written based on the most painful memories of my childhood. In 1944, I was 11 years old and boarded in a mission school not far from Fontainebleau. One of my classmates was He who came to our class at the beginning of the year surprised me because he was different and mysterious. I gradually got to know him and fell in love with him. However, one morning, the collapse of our small world caused The friendship between us no longer exists.” Today, the situation on this continent has undoubtedly changed. However, who can say that an 11-year-old child will never encounter this kind of sudden change that will be remembered for life. This is not always blatant, but it is real violence? This kind of violence will shatter the impulse of life, the confidence in tomorrow, and the longing for future life. It can be said that when Mahler reproduced the indelible mark left in the depths of his life in the past, he tried to show the reality of this kind of threat to children and all children at all times. The theme of an excellent work of art accepted by many audiences should be a profound revelation of the common problems faced in life. Mahler found such a theme.

The story of the film is quite simple: In 1944, during the occupation of France, some wealthy people sent them to a monastery school in order to protect their children in the war environment, in this melancholy and gloomy world. , A child who loves his mother is forced to separate from his mother and live a hard life of study. During this time he established a friendship with a frightened, hidden, little Jew who refused to disclose the secret. Later, the little Jew was arrested and put in a concentration camp.

When Mahler narrated this story, he used a style that was unpretentious, straightforward, and spontaneous, just like the children who play roles in the film. The small town and school in the film seems to be a familiar place in the memory of many people. Student’s life is almost a fixed schedule: for several hours in a class without heating, eating together in the cafeteria, praying before meals and before turning off the lights at night, sleeping in the cold dormitory at night, The teacher led a walk in the woods. However, the moving part of the film is also reflected in the daily exchanges between the two little protagonists Julien and Bownet. The process of their approaching each other is perfectly depicted: from the initial hostility and distrust, to silence and mutual observation, then a few words of conversation, and finally to the formation of close friends and the boarding school together. Harsh life. And just when they were happy to discover each other's friendship, the destined and inevitable blow came to this newly born friendship.

All these are shown through countless small details and appropriate dialogues, which constitute a very distinctive atmosphere. For example, there is a detail in the film: Julian learned from his brother that Jews do not eat pork. In order to further confirm whether Baonet was Jewish, he divided a piece of pork-filled bread with Baonet half, and Baonet quickly glanced at it. After a glance at the bread, he said: "No, thank you, I don't like meat." Julian insisted: "Here, eat!" Bao Nai's tone was extremely firm: "No, I said I don't like meat!" Julian whispered: "Because this is pork?" Bowie said tirelessly: "Why do you keep asking me such stupid questions?" The seemingly calm but terrifying ending of the film is shocking, and this is also through the tiny Shown in the details. The German officer had already determined that Baonet was a Jew, so he came to his desk. Baonet calmly and carefully put away his classroom utensils, then put on his hat and coat, and walked out of the classroom calmly, with a trace of blankness on his face. His gaze cast one last glance at the classroom. This detail makes the audience feel in this film that Julian experienced the last moment of his life for the first time in his life.

Mahler is also good at making everyone, even the extravagant's behavior, accurate in the smallest movements in the narrative, and is good at showing everything to the audience through the same precise picture. When filming the scene where students were watching a movie in the cafeteria, when shooting the first film, he found an extra in the back of the field looking at the camera for a second. When the second shot was taken, the two students entered the venue half a second early. So reshoot until satisfied. The director himself also said: "I am more meticulous than ever before." French "Film Weekly" commented: ""Goodbye, children" is one of those films whose credibility will be fatally hit by a slight improper grasp. List."

The other factors of the film are also used appropriately. In this way, an undisclosed passion gradually controls the tone of the film. This is another success of Mahler's artistic creation, that is, it does not play with those superficial effects to capture the audience. In the use of light, the director patiently used dim light to express the gloomy atmosphere of that era, such as the lead-grey sky, bare trees, and humid air. The color of the film is dignified and simple, and the colors of the costumes are dominated by sea blue and brown. "This can better highlight the children's relaxing moments, laughter and noise." And the picture depicting the beauty of winter colors, in this kind of contrast In the exciting memorial of the hurt friendship, it plays an important role from beginning to end.

When talking about the pursuit of the film, the director once said: “(artistic) imagination uses memory as a springboard. I redesigned the past. On the basis of retelling history, I also pursued that it was both painful and painful. Eternal authenticity. Through the eyes of this child in my memory, I tried to rediscover this initial friendship, which was so hot but suddenly destroyed; trying to discover this absurd world created by adults with violent prejudices. 1944 Years are far away, but I am convinced that modern young people can fully understand my feelings.” Mahler said of the creative process of this film: “I should have expressed this theme in my debut, but I I have been hesitating and waiting. Time is passing, but this memory of mine is more vivid and clearer." A film that was supposed to be a debut film was only shot when the director was over sixty years old, during which time passed. After 40 years of gestation, perhaps the director’s confession is the best explanation for this successful film.

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Extended Reading
  • Romaine 2022-03-19 09:01:07

    The 44th Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Award and the 60th Oscar Award for Best Foreign Language Film are shortlisted in the active farewell, life chooses to forget; in the passive farewell, we grow up suddenly. The narrative is plain, the adult’s prejudice and violence destroy the plain and sincere emotions, and "the loss of innocence"

  • Candace 2022-03-24 09:03:03

    The themes and plays are actually quite old-fashioned, but the tragic abrupt ending at the end is actually a layered effect, and the parts about sacrifice and repentance scattered in the daily fragments finally echo at the end. Many times the film may go to the metaphorical criticism of society, but Mahler still chooses his own affection in the end, which is probably the hopeless freedom of the French in the mouth of the Gestapo. "Don't you really want a vacation?" This line is really well written.

Au Revoir les Enfants quotes

  • Joseph: Stop acting so pious. There's a war going on, kid.

  • Mme Quentin: You think I like this? I miss you every moment. I'd like to dress up as a boy and join you. I'd see you at school every day. It'd be our secret. You know I can't keep you in Paris with me.