Das Licht der erloschenen Sterne

A war, eight countries, hundreds of people from different races, religions, sexual orientations, beliefs, and ages... Hundreds of thousands of stories... For eighty years, literature and art have been telling these stories, and yet there are still untold, unseen stories. Among all these stories, of course, the most painful ones are those experienced by children or told from a childhood perspective.

This film, directed by Charles Matton, is semi-autobiographical... In 1940, Charles's family left Paris in the face of advancing German troops. They would settle in Saint-Honoré-les-Bains, a small spa town in Morvan. However, the war catches up with them, and they are forced to share their home with a Wehrmacht regiment.

A tender relationship develops between young Charles, nine years old, and a young German named Karl, a literature student, outside the constraints of time and political context.

However, the deportation of a neighboring Jewish family and the regiment's call to the Russian front change the course of events.

This low-budget film, which demonstrates the psychological impact of war on people, was likely unable to find a theatrical release in 1994 and was instead released on VHS and later on DVD. It has remained underrated ever since.

Based on the director's memories in 1941 when the Germans commandeered his parents' desirable house ,north of the Loire; a subject which was already treated by Melville ("le silence de la mer" , 1948) and ,in a comedy way ,by Jean-Paul Rappeneau ( "la vie de château ", 1965)

All that concerns the friendship the boy develops with Karl -a reluctant Wehrmart officer- is true and is proved by the letters the young man sent when he left for the Russian front ; these scenes which illustrate the letter are the only ones which are filmed outside the property .

The boy and his family do not share their compatriots ' trials and shortage of food ; life in this castle seems protected but its gentler side hides real fury : listen to the radio and you hear a ravaged tale .Soon war looms in the neighborhood where a Jews' mansion is razed to the ground and their occupants sent to concentration camps.

The other relationships in the house may seem dubious and storylike, but after all,it's the horrors of the war seen through a child's eyes ,and his memories are woolly.