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The Childhood of a Leader

  • 2015
  • 1h 55m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
7.5K
YOUR RATING
The Childhood of a Leader (2015)
This fable about the rise of fascism in the 20th Century tells the story of a young American boy living in France in 1918 whose father is working for the US government on the creation of the Treaty of Versailles. What he witnesses helps to mould his beliefs - and we witness the birth of a terrifying ego.
Play trailer2:00
1 Video
62 Photos
Period DramaPsychological DramaDrama

A chronicle of the childhood of a post-World War I leader.A chronicle of the childhood of a post-World War I leader.A chronicle of the childhood of a post-World War I leader.

  • Director
    • Brady Corbet
  • Writers
    • Brady Corbet
    • Mona Fastvold
    • Jean-Paul Sartre
  • Stars
    • Bérénice Bejo
    • Liam Cunningham
    • Stacy Martin
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.2/10
    7.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Brady Corbet
    • Writers
      • Brady Corbet
      • Mona Fastvold
      • Jean-Paul Sartre
    • Stars
      • Bérénice Bejo
      • Liam Cunningham
      • Stacy Martin
    • 48User reviews
    • 87Critic reviews
    • 68Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 6 wins & 12 nominations total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:00
    Official Trailer

    Photos61

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    Top cast20

    Edit
    Bérénice Bejo
    Bérénice Bejo
    • The Mother
    Liam Cunningham
    Liam Cunningham
    • The Father
    Stacy Martin
    Stacy Martin
    • The Teacher
    Yolande Moreau
    Yolande Moreau
    • Mona
    Jacques Boudet
    Jacques Boudet
    • The Priest
    Robert Pattinson
    Robert Pattinson
    • Charles…
    Tom Sweet
    Tom Sweet
    • Prescott, the Boy
    Sophie Lane Curtis
    Sophie Lane Curtis
    • Laura
    • (as Sophie Curtis)
    Rebecca Dayan
    Rebecca Dayan
    • Edith
    Michael Epp
    Michael Epp
    • Economist
    Kata Petõ
    • Housemaid
    Mark C. Phelan
    • Mr. Advisor
    • (as Mark Phelan)
    Jeremy Wheeler
    Jeremy Wheeler
    • Mr. Deputy
    Andrew Osterreicher
    • Mr. Secretary
    Scott Alexander Young
    Scott Alexander Young
    • Counselor
    • (as Scott A Young)
    Luca Bercovici
    Luca Bercovici
    • Older Foreign Gentleman
    Caroline Boulton
    Caroline Boulton
    • Mr. Advisor's Secretary
    Roderick Hill
    Roderick Hill
    • Older American Gentleman
    • Director
      • Brady Corbet
    • Writers
      • Brady Corbet
      • Mona Fastvold
      • Jean-Paul Sartre
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews48

    6.27.5K
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    Featured reviews

    6darren-153-890810

    Confused but couldn't stop thinking about it

    This is a brilliantly brave attempt to make a challenging and striking piece of art.

    On that level it works. The opening credits and first 10 minutes are intense. The Scott Walker soundtrack really pulls you in and immediately makes you think this is no ordinary film. And for that I loved it.

    The acting is absolutely superb. Not at any stage do you think they are actors. The boy, the mum and the tutor are the stand outs.

    The cinematography is superb, particularly near the end with the camera circling a dome, beautifully simple.

    The overall look and feel reminded me of The Duke Of Burgundy (One of my fav films of recent)

    There's not a lot of love in this family, thats for sure. The film is rather dull and slow though. I did find myself snnozebusting.

    The ending made no sense either. It wasn't until I chatted to the guys in the cinema that we sort of worked it out.

    I really respect the director for making a film like this. Im looking forward to his next film. Lets just hope more interesting stuff happens.

    If you liked the Witch, you'll love this.
    summerssimon

    A flawed but powerful and very promising debut

    A flawed but very promising directorial debut from Brady Corbet. The plot meanders a little, promising more than it ultimately manages to deliver. There are, though, plenty of great moments as the film unfolds and the increasingly oppressive atmosphere of isolation, alienation and menace intensifies. Scott Walker's soundtrack is gloriously weird and over the top, and is used to particularly powerful effect in the set piece sequences that open and close the film. The acting is uniformly excellent. Tom Sweet delivers a fine performance as The Boy, whose increasingly violent tantrums are a sign of grim things to come. This is an intelligent and subtle film. A very good debut, which falls just short of being great.
    6zacknabo

    Well Intended Misfire

    Brady Corbet has assimilated many wonderful visual styles which he has picked up over the past several years working with master directors such as Von Trier and Haneke, but this is all Corbet has accomplished. Reappropriating stunning visual film language does not a good director make, because used haphazardly the images lose their ominous, dark tone and are instead replaced with empty somewhat pretentious images that have nothing story or acting wise holding it up. So all we are left is a misfire. While Corbet is similar to another young director, Xavier Dolan, in that they are trapped exercising their personal influences, Dolan has more innate talent. I would say that Corbet's command of the camera at times is promising. The sad part is he has a great skeleton but no meat and few functioning organs. The performances are a bit flat, though they are only working with what they are giving. Bejo is tiresome and Pattinson is...Pattinson. The best scene is in the beginning where the young boy gets in trouble with snowballs, a possible reference to Abel Gance's Napoleon. Corbet like Napoleon is undone by his ambition. But I do wish more directors were this ambitious in their debuts. If nothing else Corbet swung for the fences...and he should know better: nobody does Haneke better than Haneke.
    6ferguson-6

    How about a parenting class?

    Greetings again from the darkness. Brady Corbet has established a pretty nice career as an actor (Melancholia, Funny Games), and along comes his feature film debut as a writer/director (co-written with Mona Fastvold). In this day of remakes and reboots, this one is anything but. The "Overture" sets the mood with video clips of the WWI aftermath and the explosive score from Scott Walker quickly establishes itself as a character unto itself.

    Subsequent title cards are broken into three "Tantrums", as we witness the ever-escalating inappropriate behavior from young Prescott (Tom Sweet). In what on the surface could be classified as a nature vs nurture expose', the film leaves little doubt that Prescott is rebelling against the monotony of his environment and the disengaged parents to which he is tethered. However, it also seems evident that young Prescott is inherently "off". He seems to be cold and emotionally removed as he engages in battles of will with his parents … his father (Liam Cunningham) a US diplomat knee-deep in negotiations that will lead to the Treaty of Versailles, and his mother (Berenice Bejo), a self-described "citizen of the world".

    Two obvious film comparisons would be The Omen (1976) and We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011). The ominous music and settings leave little doubt that we are headed somewhere very dark here, though it's not in the religious sense of The Omen and it's more global than the intimacy of 'Kevin'. Thinking of this as evil in the making would be a just description, though a different title might have held the ending a bit longer.

    Support work is provided by Stacy Martin as the French teacher and Yolanda Moreau as the housekeeper who has moments of connection with the challenging Prescott, but Robert Pattison fans will be surprised at how little screen time he has – especially for dual roles.

    Young Tom Sweet is fascinating to watch in a very tough role for a child actor, and director Corbet proves he is a filmmaker we should follow closely. His visual acumen is something special, and offsets a script that could have used a bit of polishing. The movie will probably prove divisive – either you will find it mesmerizing and creepy, or you simply won't connect at all. That's often the case with a creative and bold project.
    Red_Identity

    Really interesting

    There are many films that revolve around evil children and all of their misdeeds, including those who become murderers and killers. This one's different in that the film is telling you from the beginning (including with its title) who the child will go on to become, meaning it's not just an evil children horror film. The opening credits are a blast, mostly because of the loud, over-the- top, delightfully campy music. But it also kind of puts you in a mood for something that is more tongue-in-cheek, and I don't really think this film is. I think it's a good watch, and there's some great directing from Corbet (impressive that it's his first time) but there are also instances where I wish the film would have gone further. No doubt it's a good watch though, even if the last few minutes are disappointing.

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    Related interests

    Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen in Little Women (2019)
    Period Drama
    Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
    Psychological Drama
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This film marks the second collaboration between screenwriters Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold, having collaborated in the screenplay for The Sleepwalker. The difference between this two collaborations is that Fastvold directed The Sleepwalker and Corbet directed this one.
    • Goofs
      Prescott's mother writes the French address on an envelope with a modern five-digit postcode. But France has had postcodes only since 1964, and the current five-digit ones only since 1972.
    • Quotes

      Charles: The tragedy is not only that Pontius Pilate betrayed his self but that hundreds in the crowd before him did betray their selves. And that's what I wrote was the tragedy of war. Not that one man has the courage to be evil but that so many have not the courage to be good.

    • Soundtracks
      Oui, Oui, Marie
      (uncredited)

      Written by Fred Fisher, Al Bryan, Joseph McCarthy

      Performed by Arthur Fields

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    FAQ18

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 22, 2016 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Canada
      • United Kingdom
      • France
      • Hungary
      • Belgium
    • Official site
      • Official site (Japan)
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
      • German
    • Also known as
      • La niñez de un líder
    • Filming locations
      • Buda Castle, Budapest, Hungary
    • Production companies
      • Scion Pictures
      • Bow and Arrow Entertainment
      • Bron Capital Partners
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $3,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross worldwide
      • $245,546
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 55m(115 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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