Based on events from writer-director Louis Malle's own childhood, Au revoir les enfants is the tragic story of friendship and devastating loss between two boys at a Catholic board-school in Nazi-occupied France. Julien befriends Jean, and the two precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie until Jean's secret - that he is a Jew being hid by sympathetic priests - is revealed. Subtly and precisely observed, the film is a tale of cowardice and courage and ultimately heartbreaking awakening into adulthood.