Les égarés (2003)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

André Téchiné

Writers:

Gilles Perrault (novel)
Gilles Taurand (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 August 2003 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

Emmanuelle Béart stars as a widowed schoolteacher who flees Nazi-occupied Paris with her children. A teenaged boy comes to their rescue by leading them into the forest -- their best shot at survival.

Plot Keywords:

Children | German | Teacher | Forest | Exodus

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Emmanuelle Béart	...	Odile
Gaspard Ulliel	...	Jean Delgas alias Yvan
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet	...	Philippe
Clémence Meyer	...	Cathy
Samuel Labarthe	...	Robert
Jean Fornerod	...	Georges
Eric Kreikenmayer	...	Le garde
Nicholas Mead	...	Le soldat blesse
Robert Eliot	...	Le jeune gendarme
Nigel Hollidge	...	Le réfugie

Also Known As:

Strayed (Europe: English title) (International: English title)
Le garçon aux yeux gris (France) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | UK:15 | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Japan:R-15 | USA:Unrated | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Castres, Tarn, France

Company:

FIT Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinemania: I anodos kai i ptosi tou Nazismou" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Zum ziele fuehrt dich diese Bahn

A Different Kind of Love, A Different Time of War

STRAYED is yet another of those tender French films about survival and discovery under the duress of World War II. Based on the novel 'Les Egares' by Gilles Perrault and adapted for the screen by Gilles Taurand, STRAYED is an elegantly honest tale of a small family forced to evacuate Paris during the Nazi invasion and how that disruption in their lives ultimately enhances their view of the world.

Odile (Emmanuelle Beart) is an educated mother of two children, Cathy (Clemence Meyer) and Philippe (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet), who has been teaching school and raising the dignity of her family until the war disrupts everything. During a blitz Odile hurries Cathy and Philippe into her car and drives out of Paris to the South to escape the Nazis. Her car breaks down and is burned and in a moment of desperation a young illiterate lad, Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel) from a reformatory offers his help and assists Odile and her family in finding refuge in a deserted country estate. Odile is at first cold to Yvan, but as the children warm to him, and as Yvan captures food for their table, Odile softens, no longer looking at this illiterate young lad as someone beneath her, and begins to teach him how to write and read.

Yvan keeps his past a secret, maintaining a mystery about himself that makes him all the more appealing. In time Odile succumbs to her physical attraction to Yvan and this warmly extended 'family' enjoys the beauty of the French countryside and new home...until the war seems over. Gendarmes visit the house, arrest Yvan as being an escapee from a reformatory, and because Odile and her children are illegally living in another person's home, they are moved to a refugee camp.

The manner in which this story pummels to an end is tense and tender and as directed by Andre Techine, the lessons of living, loving and surviving war are fully explored.

Odile is probably one of the beautiful Beart's finest roles, matched in sensitivity only by Gaspard Ulliel's finely wrought Yvan. The cinematography is breathtaking and the musical score is supportive without disrupting the flow of the film. Highly recommended on every level! Grady Harp