The Childhood of a Leader

This is almost definitely a film that has completely missed your radar, it’s a small indie film that I probably never would have found myself, had it not been nominated for a couple Independent Spirit Awards.  The film essentially tells the story of the childhood of a post-World War I leader.  The character is a fictional one, but is clearly inspired by the many ruthless leaders of the 20th century.  Now reading the brief summary I knew that this would be right up my alley.  I love coming of age films, I love historical and political settings, and I love character studies, especially those dealing with incredibly flawed characters.

The film is set in France during the peace talks of Versailles.  Our main character’s father is an Undersecretary of State and was sent to live in France during the peace talks.  The boy’s mother, played by the ever charming Berenice Bejo, was born to German parents but grew up travelling the world and eventually fell in love with an American.  As they were settling into their new life in France, the boy was given a French tutor in order for him to more quickly pick up the language.

The film is told in three main parts and then a brief epilogue and in each one we get a glimpse of this young boy’s behavior in very subtle ways.  The script is never heavy-handed with it’s portrayal of the child’s mental state.  It simply shows us a glimpse of the boy’s world and his response to it and allows us to draw conclusions about how this would affect his future state of mind.

The parents are rarely cruel, but certainly stern.  You can certainly see why a boy with a troubled mental state could be affected negatively by their parenting style.  When we think of dictators or just all around terrible people, we often wonder what their parents did wrong to make them that way.  However this film does a nice job of not necessarily placing the blame on any one person or thing.  As in reality it’s never just one thing that causes someone to turn out the way they do, but a number of different things.

This was the directorial debut of a former child actor, Brady Corbet, and I’m excited to see what else he can bring to the table.  Simply due to the film’s subject matter I knew I was going to enjoy it, but I didn’t expect the film to be so professionally put together.  The cinematography is excellent, and the overall style really elevated the film.  Rarely does a film manage to keep a constant state of dread and anticipation up throughout the length of the film, but Corbet succeeded in doing so.  The eerie score helped drive that sense of dread as well.

The performances were excellent, and the standouts were clearly Berenice Bejo and in a much smaller role, Robert Pattinson.  He plays a family friend that really doesn’t have much screen time, but his performance is so good it leaves you wanting so much more and creates a sense of mystery about his character, which I believe was the intention.  This is one of those films that just sticks with you long after it ends and I’m still digesting everything that I watched.  Simply an excellent film, one of the best of the year.

Rating 9/10