Broad Themes:

By no means does this film only incorporate one theme. In fact it is evident that there are many themes one can derive from this film.

Powerful Teacher: In the film, Clément Mathieu comes in and resurrects the children. He instills hope and turns them from troubled teens into ones with goals, positivity and drive.

Evil/Sin- Good/Bad: Throughout the entire process of Clément’s idea of dealing with punishment, there’s a constant war within each child of good and bad. Even after the first attempt of Mathieu’s new method, the kids still rebel and go against him but when they constantly see him giving them the benefit of the doubt and allowing them to see their other option, being good, in a clear light, its then they start to change. For Mondain, the severely troubled teen, this theme applies very heavily on him. At the end of the film, he’s the sole keeper of the evil left out of all the kids, and we can see the constant tug between good and bad goes away and he’s totally turned into evil.

Growth/Journey: It’s pretty evident that from the beginning of the film to the end, one could say they witnessed an inspiring growth and journey of the children as well as the school and the teachers. From the kids being very troubled, not respectful and chaotic at the beginning to well tamed at the end thanks to the help of Clément Mathieu, their growth is tremendous. Not only the kids growth but also you can see the growth of Mathieu and the school as well. At the end, “action-reaction” (their punishment style) is no longer in place, Clément is fired but agrees its time for him to move on, and Rachin (the headmaster) is more positive and no longer sees the children as deceiving and untrustworthy.

Resurrection: Throughout the film, we see the process of resurrection of all the troubled kids. They recreate themselves into well behaved and hopeful individuals. Coming from a very low point, at a boarding school specifically for troubled teens, and being able to end the film on a high note is the final mark of their resurrection.

Foregiveness: On numerous occasions, we see that instead of sending the kids to Rachin for a beating, confinement or to the police, Clément Mathieu gives them forgiveness. Instead of having them endure useless punishment, he gives them something to do thats meaningful. For example, in the beginning of the film when he finds out Quérec, another troubled kid, was the reason for the injury of the concierge, he makes him become the caretaker. Being able to see what his actions did, and spend quality time with the man, the child was able to see just what he did and that it was a terrible move.

Important Formal Elements:

Mis-en-scène:

The mis-en-scène in this film is rather simplistic compared to those we have talked about in class such as A Very Long Engagement. Instead, this film captures the simple feel of the time and its setting.

The setting was outside, and nature and its surroundings were very much captured on camera. In particular, the last scene, with the swaying greenery as the camera zoomed out of school and to Mondain it emphasized the surroundings of Fond de L’Étang and let the viewer see that the theres more to the movie than just the confines of the school and those children. The contrast between the elegant and innocent nature and the evil Mondain, emphasizes the two endings for the film; happiness, hope and prosperity for the children that were once troubled, and the evil and satanic attitude that Mondain will forever have.

Along with the setting, to give the school a “dilapidated” look, they added fog machines, stripped paint and gave it a muted tone of color like the rest. The clothing of the characters were always of a muted tone, going hand in hand with the whole idea of the film; troubled teens in post war time, separated from their family with strict discipline and fear; depressing feels. Going even more hand in hand with that is the concept of lighting. The entire film is somewhat in dimmed, cool lighting. It’s not until the end of the film, as the camera pans over the foliage, does the sun really peak through, and we see the shine coming back off the leaves in the sun in the distance. Even more so, when Pepinot and Mathieu ride off in the bus at the end, the sun is once again out, bringing a happy conclusion to the end of a troubled start of the film.

Soundtrack:

The soundtrack adds to the overall tone of the film and enhances the films pathos. Along with the dialogue, hand in hand, it keeps the film feel more uplifting and on a positive note for all of the somber events in this time period in the context if the film. The music allows you to be able to see more into the emotions of the film as it explicitly puts the emotion into music for each moment matching the emotions of each character.

POV:

The entire film is from Pierre Morhange’s POV through the words yet a total POV of Clément Mathieu as its his journal that Pierre is reading as it goes into a flashback. Both narrate and the film uses a voice-over narration, transitioning in and  out the voices between Clément in the context of the film, and Pierre for the beginning as he establishes the basic setting and for end, concluding Pepinot and Clément’s departure.

In the very beginning, you see Pierre about to conduct his orchestra when his manager comes in bearing terrible news. Later that evening, Pépinot visits bearing Clément Mathieu’s journal of his time at Fond De L’Etang. As soon as Pierre starts to read it, a flashback starts and he becomes the narrator, reading the journal as the flashback of Fond De L’Etang continues.

With this POV, you get a sense of both point of views. Reading Clément’s words he wrote, we see his side of the time he spent teaching the young boys. When the shot comes back to modern day and shows Pierre and Pépinot in the living room, we see and hear Pierre’s reaction and hear his words of emotion. By doing this, there is huge emphasis on the impact that Clément had on Pierre and we can really see it here.

Visually, the shots flip back and forth between on Clément himself, seeing his reaction as well as shots that let us see what he sees. Most times when the camera is facing him, and we get to see what he’s doing, adding the narration, they both go along with the movement of Clément and the panning of the camera.

When the voice over takes place, and the panning of the shot is on Mathieu, it creates an establishing feel and a sense of conclusion to that day, event, or moment in the film. In these moments of closure, the speed of the film, we feel it slows down and when it picks back up, the voice over disappears, the shot goes to his POV and its a reawakening of another event in the movie.

Editing:

This film has many editing features, narration, lighting and so forth but the most of it is done in the art of the shots. There are many different kinds of shots in this film. When we see the choir starting to sing, and the solo being sung, or an event or switch in emotion come from the film, we see zoom shots. Usually always on Clément during the night when he starts to think of ways to help the children or when Pierre is starting to sing, zoom shots are being used. It allows us to really understand the importance of that specific scene.

When the camera starts to pan, or move around and above the people, also seen at night when Clément is starting to write new songs, or when the entire choir is in harmony. These are when movement and progress is taking place. Like the camera is moving in upward and horizontal direction, much progress and idea is starting to flow and we gradually feel the shifts starting to occur in the film.

One of the most important editing aspects about this film is the use of a flashback. Happening in the very beginning and then ending at the end of the film, it’s the sole feature that makes this film into what it is. It helps with the narration transition of voices and emphasizes the journal left by Clément Mathieu. While Pierre reads Cléments words, we hear Clément’s voice and see exactly what had happened as the events took place. The flashback is the primary feature that creates the nostalgic feel us viewers get from the film.

Narrative:

In this particular film, there is a voice-over narrative. In the beginning of the film when Pierre is starting to read Clément’s journal, the narrative starts with his voice. When the shot changes and goes into a flashback from Clément’s POV, the voice transitions to that of Clément Mathieu’s himself. As the film stays in the past, in the flashback, the narration is being voiced by Clément Mathieu. It is only at the end when Pepinot is brought into the bus to leave the school with Clément, is it then switched back to Pierre’s voice just before the shot is switched back into the present day, and back into Pierre’s POV.

The way that it is done, very slyly switching the voices, is hard to catch. It is only when it switches back over at the end does one really realize that its Pierre’s and you feel like it was all a circle-like effect.

Scene Analysis:

Final Scene:

Soundtrack: 

The beginning of this scene includes only dialogue between Pepinot and Clément Mathieu. After words are spoken, there is silence, making the sounds of nature and the bus extremly profound giving a sense to the viewer of finality. The heightened sounds of the setting make it seem almost unsettling as it matches the action in the scene of Mathieu not taking Pepinot with him.

Then finally when the bus halts, and Mathieu waves over Pepinot, Mathieu’s creation of “Vois sur ton Chemin” is song in the background, of course by his choir from the school. As they ride off, the song continues to play leaving the film to end in a sense of completion and happiness.

Ironically, the song “Vois sur on Chemin” means “Look into your path”. Seeing as how this scene is a parallel to the beginning scene when Mathieu first arrives at the school, the words “Look into your path” is one of symbolism for not only Pepinot, who finally left on a Saturday, but also for Clément Mathieu as he seeks to pursue what he loves.

Narration:

This is the scene where the narrative voice is switched back to Pierre Morhange’s. Though there isn’t narration in this scene from Clément Mathieu’s POV, its the pivotal moment where without the shot jumping forward to present time, can you infer from the switch of voices that the film is coming to a wrap, more so, Clément’s journal is coming to an end.

The context of the narration here is also a parallel from the beginning of the flashback. Stating that Pepinot finally got his wish, leaving home on a Saturday. Even that being said, the viewer can also infer the same, that it’s nearing the end.

POV: 

In this scene, the POV is simply left to the narrative. The camera is panning back and forth between Pepinot and Clément. When the narration starts, being nearly the only words spoken in the 2 minutes, its merely a description that was written in Cléments journal of that moment. From then, the POV and the camera just stays static watching as the bus carrying Pepinot and Clément drives away.

Editing: 

The editing here is very simple. We start with seeing the action and reaction from both Pepinot and Clément Mathieu as they talk about going home  with Mathieu or back to the school. As they speak, the camera pans out and we see both in one shot. As Clément boards the bus and leaves Pepinot behind, we see the shot keep switching back and forth between what each of them see. We see Cléments POV and leaving Pepinot standing there, and we see what Pepinot see’s, the bus leaving getting further away, when in that POV, we see the bus stop and the final scene of Pepinot running and leaving with Clément Mathieu takes place. In this scene, its all up to the shots and POV that create the emotional and satisfying ending.

Dialogue:

The dialogue here is very sparse. Because of this, it allows the viewer to take in the emotions, as well as listen to the sounds and view the images the camera shows to come to their own conclusion. When Pepinot ends up leaving with Mathieu and the music starts to play, still with no dialogue, the music only heightens the viewers ability to react.