Goodbye Children

1
Goodbye Children

• The Holocaust and France

2
Au revoir les enfants

• 1987.
• Director, producer and writer is Louis Malle.
• The film is dedicated to his children
• Autobiographical account.
• The voice over at the end lets us know that it is
  autobiographical.
• Malles own voice tells us that Jean Bonnet died
  in Auschwitz, father Jean died at Mauthausen.

3
Autobiographical Elements

• Malle said it was the most important event of his
  childhood I will remember every second of that
  January morning until I die.
• The episode is what inspired him to become a
  filmmaker.
• Although it changed his life, he was frightened
  to deal with it.
• He was afraid it was sacrilegious.
• Probably because most of the priests did not act
  nobly.

4
Fictional Elements

• Malle made the film the way he felt he could
  approach the subject.
• The complex relationship between Jean and Julian
  did not really exist.
• He (represented by Julian) did not know that Jean
  was Jewish (although some of the older children
  did).

5
Fictional Elements

• The nun who betrays the boy is fictional.
• The denunciation by Joseph, the cook, is also
  fictional. He was actually one of the Jews
  hiding there from the Germans.

6
Autobiography and Film

• Some of the issues involved here we have seen
  before.
• The tension between then and now (the primary
  story line and the voice over).
• Fact and fiction relationship.
• Cathartic function of storytelling.
• Those who experienced it, need to get the story
  out, need to make sense of what happened.
• Problem the meaninglessness and arbitrariness
  of what happened vs. our (and the artists) need
  to make sense of it.

7
Malles need to portray the story.

• Malle needed to portray the episode in his life.
• He realized that even as late as 1944 (close to
  the end of the war in 1945), the Nazis made it a
  priority to find three Jewish children to kill.
• In 1942, we would see children my age wearing
  the yellow star. I would ask, why? Why him and
  not me? No one had a good answer. From then on,
  I felt that the world of adults was one of
  injustice, deception, false explanations,
  hypocrisy and lies . . . . And following that
  morning in January 1944 when Bonnet left, the
  feeling became a certitude.

8
Discussion Questions

• The perspective is that of Julian. Is this a
  good perspective? How does it influence the
  story?
• Is the catholic church criticized in this film?
  If yes, in what scene(s)?
• Are the characters believable? Too cute?
• Does Jean Bonnet conform too much to the Jewish
  stereotype of the over intelligent Jew?

9
Discussion Questions

• What is the function of the relationship between
  Julian and his mother?
• Was the discussion what is a Jew? enlightening?
  In what way?
• What does the restaurant scene tell us about the
  role of the French under German occupation?
  About the relationship between the German
  occupying power and the French?

10
Discussion Questions

• Where does the theme of collaboration appear?
• A special strength of this film is that it gives
  us insight into peoples motivations. What does
  it tell us about the nature of collaboration?
  Why do you think Joseph collaborated with the
  Nazis?

11
Discussion Questions

• What was the function of the Charlie Chaplin
  movie?
• What did you think of the depiction of the
  Gestapo at the end?
• The comment by Sagard, the heavy set boy at the
  end, is interesting. He wonders whether the
  Gestapo will arrest them too. He says, we
  havent done anything. What is the function of
  this comment?

12
Discussion Questions

• The most famous moment in the film is Jeans
  quick glance at the end. What did this moment
  make you feel?
• The title, Goodbye Children is stated in the
  film several times. When does it appear? What
  is this meant to point out?