“Their Children Follow Them” review: The wanderings of youth in a small French town

If you’ve spent time in towns in the remote provinces of many European countries, especially those where the factories that provided the economic lifeblood of working-class communities have closed and their residents have drifted without rafts, you’ll most likely recognize the fictional Northeastern France. scene and their subsequent children. (their children after them). These places are stuck in time, usually around the time their industries close. This ossification can be observed at public celebrations, where locals gather on the dance floor as the cheesiest Europop tunes blast from the loudspeakers, in this case Boney M.’s “Babylon” Rivers of Babylon.

In their ambitious adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu’s 2018 Goncourt Prize-winning novel, writer-director brothers Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma capture this atmosphere with such unique and melancholy fondness, it’s easy to imagine them living here atmosphere – or at least something very close to it. This coming-of-age story unfolds over four summers (every two years) from 1992 to 1998, but it could almost have happened decades earlier.

New actor Paul Kircher turns heads in Christophe Honoré’s film winter boy and Thomas Kelly’s animal kingdomPlaying the awkward and introverted Anthony, he was 14 when we first met him. In the sweltering heat, he wears a leather motorcycle jacket, probably because he thinks it gives him a bit of a cool air, and he flicks a cigarette in the lake before complaining to his cousin (Louis Memie) Said the water was too disgusting for swimming.

However, when two teenage girls, Clemens (Anouk Wellman) and Stephane (Angelina Vores), swim to a floating platform, he decides to take the plunge and His horny cousin (who remains unnamed) invites himself to join them. Anthony’s furtive glances at the older Stephen reveal his complete lack of interest in girls and mark the beginning of a first love that is destined to remain largely out of reach.

That night, Stephen and Clemens invited them to a party at a friend’s house, where they lived too far from downtown Highland to ride their bikes. Anthony’s cousin encourages him to “borrow” his father Patrick’s (Giles Lelouch) precious motorcycle hidden in the garage. Anthony is experienced enough to know how this can irritate his cantankerous alcoholic father, and yet he secretly drives the Yamaha even without warning from his worried mother Helen (Ludivine Sagnier, terrific). As it turns out, that’s not the only impulsive decision to have consequences throughout the six-year span of the story.

It is obvious from the moment they attend the party that the rich man’s house is foreign land to them. When his fearless cousin is taken away by Clemens, Anthony is left alone and morose, becoming increasingly drunk and wobbly. But when Moroccan kid Hashim (Sayyid El Alami) and his friends are told they’re not welcome at the conspicuously white party, he jumps at an opportunity to try to impress Stephen . Harsin kicked over the barbecue grill on his way out and nearly hit Stephen, but Anthony put out a foot and tripped him, humiliating him.

This impulsive act is another trigger in a domino effect of rage, revenge, and violence that affects Anthony and his family, as well as Hashim and his father, Malik (Lunes Tazart).

Rather than overemphasize this, the Bookmass use mirror images to show how similar the two families are despite their cultural differences, with Patrick and Malik, former co-workers at the steel plant, standing like a giant monument to a soon-to-be-vanished The same appears vaguely in the picture. The script also connects the predetermined possibilities of Anthony and Harsin – as the title suggests – trying to break free and make a life for themselves in a less boring place.

The writer-directors followed the novel’s lead and made Anthony the focus, which leaves Harsin feeling shortchanged, especially since El-Alami is a compelling presence with his brooding good looks and fiery eyes. His involvement in the local drug trade, for example, appears only once and is never mentioned again, despite the filmmakers’ decision to keep events spread over four summers, making it inevitable for the audience to fill in some blanks.

Intertwined with the aggression between them is the disintegration of Anthony’s family and a series of poignant disappointments that render Stephen inaccessible. Time and time again, they miss opportunities to connect, including Patrick’s attempts to reconcile with his son – Patrick’s gradual transformation from a snarling brute into a broken man, conveyed by Lellouche with plenty of pathos and a dash of gruffness .

The “almost” aspect of the story is most strongly felt in Anthony’s efforts to get closer to Stephen. She is played by the charming Wallis as a young woman who, despite her middle-class upbringing, has her own problems and insecurities, which may be what brings her to an affinity with Anthony and prevents her from rejecting him outright. reason.

As Anthony gets older, a serious strain develops on Vanessa (Christine Gautier), a friend of his sister’s who, when he first meets her, has straight hair. Wearing the saddest hairpin, willing to be a trophy of his comfort. No attempt is made to hide the fact that sullen, withdrawn Anthony is a flawed character – used with little regard for Vanessa’s feelings; casually racist because that’s what he grew up in; and unwilling to accept An olive branch extended by others.

Even so, Kitcher plays him with an earthy demeanor that softens his rough edges. He comes across as hesitant in conversation, either not responding or taking a long time to say a word. His nervousness around Stephen is particularly moving as he shuffles, stumbling, almost Chaplin-esque. With each two-year time jump, he seemed to grow physically. But even though he’s toughened up after returning from his time in the military, he’s still a fragile boy in a way.

All of this adds weight to the mutually loving moments with Stéphane, especially a tender scene at the Bastille Day celebrations during which they dance to the Dylan-esque Francis Cabrell song “Samedi soir sur la terre.” It’s one of many soulful drops scattered throughout, drawn from French and international songs from the time or earlier.

The emotive power of Amaury Chabauty’s gentle orchestral score builds to a crescendo, helping to change the mood at key moments, such as the moment when the carefree joy of a summer is suddenly erased by despair, fear and rage .

It’s quite a step up from the small-scale genre films the Boukema brothers have made to date, and they bring a satisfying cinematic sweep to the film that feels more Hollywood than French – for better or worse. Their sensitive direction of intimate exchanges is poignant, even if the scenes occasionally veer from melodrama to soap opera.

Travel shots have become a cliché about youth in French cinema, and the directors certainly don’t hesitate to cruise with the characters – on bicycles, motorcycles, stolen canoes – in several fluid stalking scenes. But they give the film a pleasing pace, and DP Agustin Barbarux’s crisp visuals are both beautiful and stagnant in their scenes.

The film is a bit loose here and there, and the just under two-and-a-half-hour running time could use some trimming, although the length is clearly in line with the coming-of-age novel on which it’s based. More social and political context might make it plausible.

A deep sadness runs through and their subsequent children.. Even joyful moments, like the faces in the crowd staring at the Bastille Day fireworks as a Johnny Hallyday song plays, or a bar full of people ecstatic that France won the 1998 World Cup, The feeling of one generation after another can never be completely erased.