L'enfance Nue = Nude Childhood

Ten year old Francois, abandonned by his mother, is sent to a working-class foster family where his behaviour becomes rather disturbing. After several incidents, he is sent to an other family. The parents are elderly, the grandmother ancient and a foster brother awkward and shy. The placement proves a success, although it eventually leads to a crisis. After a decade in televison, Pialat made his directorial debut with a New Wave style drama of adolescence featuring a cast of non-professional players. Such films, ten years after the arrival of the ‘nouvelle vague’, had become a kind of recognized genre unto themselves rather than a striking gesture of independence from established norms, and it is not surprising that Pialat’s work often led him in other directions. Reference: Alan Williams. “Republic of images: a history of French filmmaking”. Harvard University Press, 1992. Awards: Prix Jean Vigo 1969.

Credits: Producers, Claude Berri, Mag Bodard, Francois Truffaut ; director, Maurice Pialat ; writers, Maurice Pialat, Arlette Langman ; photography, Claude Beausoleil.
Cast: Michel Tarrazon, Linda Gutemberg, Raoul Billerey, Pierrette Delplanque.