Naked Childhood

The ten year-old boy François (Michel Terrazon) is left by his parents for adoption. His foster families become unhappy with his evil behavior, practicing small thefts, killing pets and provoking car accident and reject him.

"L'enfance nue" is one of those well-made films that gives the sensation of a documentary to the viewer. In the late 60's, it was probably a realistic childhood docudrama to be discussed about orphaned children. Unfortunately the storyline is dated in 2017 and the troublemaker François is not as bad as he was in 1968. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Infância Nua" ("Naked Childhood")

Looking not unlike Jean-Pierre Léaud, Michel Tarrazon's young 10 year-old tearaway François could very well be an alternative continuation of the story of Truffaut's Antoine Doinel after the 400 Blows (Truffaut indeed was one of the film's producers alongside Claude Berri), but the treatment from Maurice Pialat, in his first feature film, is notably more harshly realist. Abandoned by his parents, François is passed from one foster family to another, each of them finding it impossible to control a young boy who inevitably has behavioural problems and gets into a lot of trouble torturing cats, stealing from other kids and wielding a large knife. Although he is given love and affection by the poor families who take him in for the little extra money they will receive, he inevitably never feels like he belongs and ends up turning against the people who want to help him.

Made when he was 43 years old, L'Enfance Nue clearly has strongly autobiographical elements – although Pialat wasn't placed in the hands of the social services, he was brought up by his grandparents and did feel abandoned by his parents. The film also depicts the social circumstances of the period and the poverty of the outlying suburban districts (already the subject of the director's 1961 short film L'Amour Existe). Using non-professional actors, L'Enfance Nue consequently also has a certain almost documentary-like realism that would become characteristic of Pialat's hard-hitting style.

It is quite extraordinary that 1968's L'Enfance Nue (or Naked Childhood) was the debut feature of a 43 year-old Maurice Pialat. Pialat would go on to direct a small number of highly-admired films after this, up until 1995, but it remains this film that he will be most remembered for. Similar in spirit but not in style to Francois Truffaut's masterpiece The 400 Blows, it follows the exploits of a troublemaking child who channels all of his rejection into ferocious anger that causes havoc with the people around him. Truffaut also has a co-producer credit for the film, although it would be the last time he would work with Pialat.

A young boy, Francois (Michel Terrazon), is placed in a home for bad children when his frequent outbursts and often psychopathic acts become too much for his mother. He is eventually re-homed and put into the care of an elderly couple, who also look after another older child, Raoul. When Francois warms to the elderly lady, his behaviour begins to become less hostile and he becomes familiar with his new surroundings. But a lifetime spent being unwanted has left it's mark on Francois, and he constantly remains unpredictable. Francois kills a cat, throws a knife at his new 'brother', and repeatedly steals from the other children. He is a horrific creation, and every parent's nightmare.

Pialat paints an interesting picture of France at the time. Without sledgehammering it home, he and the film depicts a time where a creeping poverty was lurking among the edges of suburbia. Perhaps this was one of the factors for Francois' parents being physically and mentally unable to keep the child, too distracted with their own situation that they don't have the time to get to the root of the problem. Or perhaps Francois is just a mischievous little bastard, and his inability to settle with one family before pushing them over the edge is his fault. L'Enfance Nue also has a surprisingly reserved depiction of the social services. They are seen simply doing their job, and repeatedly re- housing Francois every time he is rejected by a new foster family. This is where the genius lies in this film. Instead of using the film as a medium to send a social message (a la Ken Loach), Pialat sits back, points his camera, and tells a story. It is both complex and simple, but you would have to make your own mind up about that.

Much like Jean-Pierre Leaud in The 400 Blows, Michel Terrazon is fantastic in the lead role, brimming with menace and an unpredictability. Although the comparisons seem obvious, it would be wholly unfair to carry on comparing this to Truffaut's film, as L'Enfance Nue is a fantastic film in it's own right. Like most of his films, this is considered somewhat autobiographical to Pialat, but how much is unclear. His filmmaking techniques seem similar to the attitudes of the title character - this film is in your face and hard-hitting. You can almost hear the director yelling 'if you don't like it, then f**k you!'. A very, very good film, and I shall be seeking out more Pialat because of it. A remarkable debut.

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Loyal viewers of French cinema would agree if one were to claim that to a very large extent film directors in France tend to take their inspirations from events which have had significant impact on their lives. This is also the case with two directors associated with this film namely Maurice Pialat and François Truffaut who experienced troubled times during their individual childhoods. In Maurice Pialat's Naked Childhood / L'Enfance Nue, the viewers get a first hand view of the tough times faced by some French parents who raise adopted children. As far as the 'nakedness' of the film's title is concerned, it has a lot to do with the brutal, direct and frank portrayal of one adopted boy who is rejected by all and sundry due to his bad behavior and mood swings. Maurice Pialat has avoided any kind of sentimentality as his film is for both parents and children. The focus is more on recognizing a child as an individual, a type of human being who deserves to be understood. Although the major focus in this film is about a 'difficult' child, a kind of emotional balance is created as its story has been told from the point of view of a second adopted child and other adults who have become a part of these boys' lives.

François Fournier (Michel Terrazon) is a ten-year old boy dumped into the foster care system in France by his single mother, whom the film suggests was mentally ill. Maurice Pialat's first feature L'enfance nue is an unsentimental look at the foster care system in France and its effects on those in its care. Written by Maurice Pialat and Arlette Langmann and performed by non-professional actors with much of the dialogue unscripted, L'enfance nue comes from the director's own experience of being raised by his grandparents and the emotional distance he felt towards his biological mother and father. Though the film lacks peak dramatic moments and emotional payoffs, in its volatile main character; it captures the essence of humanity, in all of its contradictions.

François personifies that ambivalence. He can be goodhearted and mean-spirited, cruel and kind, angry and loving, a cauldron of emotions that are sometimes hidden below the surface and sometimes acted out. Like most children, he is inarticulate and is at a loss to explain his actions, but the film does not seek any explanation. It just observes rather than judges. As the film opens, we see a protest march about economic conditions, but we soon learn that this is not a political statement, only a suggestion of the socio-economic area in which the film is set. François is living in the home of foster parents Simone (Linda Gutemberg) and Roby Joigny (Roual Billerey) who are unable to have their own children.

We see him steal a watch, then flush it down the toilet, dropping his foster sister Josette's (Pierrette Deplanque) cat down a stairwell, refusing to eat, and peeing on the floor around his bed. Unable to cope, his foster parents deliver him back to Social Services but, again confounding our expectations, François lovingly buys a gift for his foster mother and seems genuinely sad about leaving. After a revealing scene at the adoption center where prospective parents size up the orphans in a way that reminded me of the slave auction in "12 Years a Slave," François is placed in the home of an older couple, the Thierry's (Marie-Louise and René Thierry, real-life foster parents) whom he calls Grandma and Grandpa.

Also in the home are Raoul (Henri Puff), a teenage foster child, a younger girl, and Mrs. Thierry's elderly mother Nana (Marie Marc), who is mostly confined to bed. François responds to the tenderness shown by Nana who reads to him, sings songs with him, and talks about her life. They even discuss the meaning of the word "mistress." We think there is progress when he shows a sense of guilt for the first time after he steals Nana's coin purse and then quietly puts it back under her pillow. François is also drawn to Grandpa and spontaneously kisses him after he hears stories about the old man's activities with the French Resistance during World War II.

Eventually, however, even the Thierry's begin to question his normality after he throws a knife at Raoul, deliberately spills soup on his brother's lap, smokes cigarettes and hangs out with his neighborhood toughs who together decide to throw iron bars at passing cars from an elevated bridge, an adventure that leads to serious consequences. With his very expressive eyes that seem to look right through you, Michel Terrazon is remarkable as the young man acting out his anger. Others are notable as well including Henri Puff's as young Raoul, but it is Terrazon's memorable performance that remains with us and haunts our dreams.