La lumière des étoiles mortes

Based on the director's memories in 1941 when the Germans commandeered his parents' desirable house ,north of the Loire; a subject which was already treated by Melville ("le silence de la mer" , 1948) and ,in a comedy way ,by Jean-Paul Rappeneau ( "la vie de château ", 1965)

All that concerns the friendship the boy develops with Karl -a reluctant Wehrmart officer- is true and is proved by the letters the young man sent when he left for the Russian front ; these scenes which illustrate the letter are the only ones which are filmed outside the property .

The boy and his family do not share their compatriots ' trials and shortage of food ; life in this castle seems protected but its gentler side hides real fury : listen to the radio and you hear a ravaged tale .Soon war looms in the neighborhood where a Jews' mansion is razed to the ground and their occupants sent to concentration camps.

The other relationships in the house may seem dubious and storylike, but after all,it's the horrors of the war seen through a child's eyes ,and his memories are woolly.