Alternate Best Actor 1987: Gaspard Manesse in Au Revoir Les Enfants

Gaspard Manesse did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Julien Quentin in Au Revoir Les Enfants.

Au Revoir Les Enfants is an effective film following a schoolboy in Nazi occupied France during World War II.

 In 1987 there were three films that featured the child's perspective during World War II, obviously I just reviewed Christian Bale as the British boy in Japanese occupied China in Empire of the Sun, then there was a British boy in the blitz in John Boorman's Hope and Glory, and then finally we have Louis Malle's semi-autobiographical here. Although all three feature that perspective the latter two have a more distant approach in terms of how the central performance is utilized. Of course this does not speak to the quality of the films, I believe the latter two films to be superior than Spielberg's film. The two though are not strictly of innocence breaking rather the idea of innocence is reflected in the boy's interactions with their situation. This is what we have here in Gaspard Manesse as the schoolboy simply attending a catholic boarding school. There is a bit of fear but even this is portrayed in a pretty low key way by Manesse as Julien says goodbye to his mother. Not in an underwhelming way mind you, Manesse delivers it as the slight hesitations of a well adjusted boy, and it isn't anything that one would need to dwell upon.

The film then is mostly of Julien attending his school. Now far more is going on around it with the Nazi soldiers prowling around, an anti-Jewish sentiment being pervasive in some, the priest principal at the head of the school seeming as though the weight of the world on his shoulders and one fellow school boy who just doesn't seem to quite fit in. In the middle of this is Julien who isn't blissfully ignorant, but rather Manesse's portrays the ignorance of a boy not really at an age where that would press unto his mind. Manesse's performance rather realizes the state of Julien as simply a boy who wants to do well in school and perhaps make a few friends. This eventually is the boy who doesn't quite fit in named Jean. Manesse's portrayal of interactions with the boy though is that of boy's being boys. That being a bit of jealousy at first, at his mutual academic performance, that slowly transforms into camaraderie and friendship. None of this is particularly intense in nature, nor should it be, rather both young actors just realize the friendship of two boys as though they were of any time. There are hints of the boy's situation of course, and this is perhaps where Manesse's greatest challenge in terms of his performance is realized.

This being in Julien's slow realization that the boy Jean is in fact Jewish and is being hidden to escape persecution by the Nazis. Manesse manages to handle this largely in reactionary moments throughout the film. This being in granting a particular focus to certain moments where Jean's background is questioned. Again though Manesse's handling of these moments is still just a boy who is quietly discovering something, not of some investigator of any sort. Julien is not in some quest of any kind he's just a friend to the boy, and exists in a world of just trying to live his life. Eventually the Nazis do come for the Jews being hidden in the school, and Julien accidentally telegraphs Jean's location. This is a good moment as played by Manesse as just a most genuine fear of a boy for his friend. He handles the whole "purging" sequence well by conveying the growing anxiety in the boy with this certain sense of disbelief as though his whole world is crashing down. This too is reserved, though effectively so, as Julien is not the one being arrested, and he really can't do much about it. Manesse's depiction is that of a nearly being petrified which is an honest portrayal given that Julien is not any more than just a boy who hasn't experienced much hardship in his life. Manesse's performance is still rather moving in its final moments of portraying the overwhelming sadness in the boy as he watches those being taken away. Manesse's whole performance is one that works well for the film however it is limited. It is distant, though detached, as this straight forward representation of a young student simply living a young's student life, until suddenly the horrible outside world tears that simplicity from him.