Wow! (spoilers)
What have I just seen? A wonderful film of ordinary humanity at its best in difficult circumstances, even the child Francois is at his best in spite of his circumstances.
There are lots of extras with the dvd one of which was an interview one of Pialat's collaborators who shared that Pialat liked to test how far he could push and push at people; find and test their limits. That he did his utmost to push people away from him and that he was fascinated by the resilience in some. All of this is imbued in the character of Francois whose 'acting out' exemplifies a distressed child trying to make sense of his life and those around him. The situation with the cat, who we see being cuddled tenderly by his step-sister Josette, typifies the insecure ambivalence of the child that is Francois and that seems to have been in the man who was Pialat. Francois harms the cat, fatally wounding it, but then tries to take care of it and help it recover. The cat does not and dies at which point Francois chucks it on a rubbish dump and taunts Josette with her cat's death. From the outside his actions seem cruel and unnatural but as a play around love and attachment they make perfect sense.
The family who give him up at the beginning, whose daughter is Josette, enraged me as the mother took no responsibility for Francois's behaviour. His bed was on the landing, he didn't have his own bedroom (a bit like the boy in The 400 Blows) whilst her daughter had everything and more. Thank god for people like the Thierrys to whom Francois is given next. Even if they cannot heal him he knew at least some love and warmth from such generous people.
8.5/10 from me.
I'm not trying to break your heart,share
I'm just trying hard not to fall apart