Criterion | 1968 | 83 mins. | Not Rated
Though he didn’t make his directorial debut until age 43, and his resume consists of only ten features in thirty five years, Maurice Pialat nonetheless staked out a place for himself in the illustrious annals of French Cinema. With the 1968 release of L’enfance Nue, it was immediately clear that Pialat wasn’t in the business of making crowd pleasers; in fact audiences were likely to find themselves uncomfortable with every frame.
With L’enfance Nue, Pialat takes an unflinching look at wayward youth. Fans of French Cinema will find it difficult not to make comparisons with Truffaut’s groundbreaking 400 Blows made almost a decade earlier. (Consequently, Truffaut was one of the producers of Nue.) Looking very similar to Jean-Pierre Léaud, Michael Terrazon’s 10 year old François could in some ways be seen as an extension of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel. However, almost from the start, Pialat makes his young man much less of an outwardly sympathetic character.
Abandoned by his parents, François is passed from one foster family to another, each of them finding it nearly impossible to deal with a boy who is constantly in trouble. He fights, steals, abuses cats and is caught wielding a large knife at school. All this despite the fact that he is given love and affection by the poor families who take him in. This behavior is perhaps inevitable, given that he has been juggled from family to family in exchange for a monetary payment, no matter how small. Francois never feels that he fits in.
While the viewer is likely to be appalled by François and his behavior toward the individuals who try to help him, Pialat avoids turning him into ‘the bad seed’ and makes the case that the foster care system isn’t a black-and-white issue. The viewer is always aware of the monetary benefit to the adults for taking care of François. At the same time, he shows the efforts put forth by Social Services (L’Assistance Publique) and the time and attention given François by each foster parent Most importantly, through the use of gestures and François’ subtle actions, the director attempts to explore some of the underlying reasons for behavioral issues sometimes found in long-term foster children. The theory presented in L’enfance Nue is that it’s that sense of being “unwanted” by their own parents that creates a sense of confusion in the child, and the only conclusion that François can come to is that he is bad and unlovable, causing him to mistrust and lash out at everyone around him.
Pialat used non-professionals in all the roles and shot the film in a decidedly documentary style. This decision made an already difficult subject matter feel all the more gritty and realistic. More than forty years after its theatrical release, L’enfance Nue remains one of the finest films about wayward youth ever made.
The film has been framed at 1.66:1 and is presented in a widescreen transfer that’s anamorphically enhanced. Some of the early scenes look their age, with flat color and only average sharpness. However, at around the fifteen minute mark, things greatly improve. We see solid flesh tones and good detail. There is a hair (likely part of the original photography), but other video artifacts have been cleaned up and eliminated. The white subtitles are easy to read, which as any film fan knows, is always a major plus.
The Dolby Digital 1.0 audio track doesn’t offer much in the way of spatial presence. However, dialogue has been well recorded and comes through clearly. While clear of aural artifacts like hiss or crackle sounds rather flat and uninspired, a typical mono mix of its era.
As with most Criterion titles, L’enfance Nue offers an impressive slate of special features:
“Autour de L’enfance Nue” (52 minutes) Presented in black- and-white, this documentary mixes information about the making of the film with an exposé about the foster care system as it existed in France in 1969
“L’amour existe” (20 minutes) Maurice Pialat’s 1960 short film about the contrasting lifestyles available in the suburbs of Paris, two miles from downtown, where abject poverty exists side-by-side with modern homes and apartment buildings. The film earned the director much critical acclaim. Presented in non-anamorphic letterbox format.
Critic Kent Jones (11 minutes) offers a video critique of the movie praising it for its frankness, honesty, and unsentimental tone.
Director Maurice Pialat 1973 interview (15 minutes) The auteur talks openly about the poor box-office reception of the film and what he considered its problems and weaknesses.
Interview (6 minutes) Co-screenwriter Arlette Langmann and assistant director Patrick Grandperret discuss the film and the working and creative style of the temperamental Maurice Pialat in a 2003 interview.
The enclosed 15-page booklet contains the chapter listing, cast and crew lists, a nice selection of color stills from the movie, and an essay on the director and his film by writer Phillip Lopate.
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