Rémi sans famille

Writer and sometimes movie director Hector Marlot's SANS FAMILLE has a following among generations of young readers who grew up with it. It seems to inspire a film version every decade, including a silent made by the author.

I hadn't previously encountered it myself and it reaches me as something from the class end of the Kid Film Spectrum, with the handsome surface of current costume adventure films like LES TROIS MOUSKETEERS - here scaled down.

The plausibly ten year old hero is an orphan whose rural travels bring him into the care of Itinerant musician Dan Auteuil, with his pet monkey and particularly winning dog. Rather than stay as a companion to grow into servant for the ill girl on the nice river barge, the boy sets out to find his real mother, encountering angry wolves and menacing fraudsters in a derelict town house from which he must be saved. Mix in a bit of Dickens and Stevenson.

The makers find room for assured players like Valerie Ledoyen and Jacques Perin matched by equally effective unknowns. Grand parents with conservative taste will feel they've done the right thing showing this one to children dumped in their care.

This rewrite of the famous French novel is very touching, very well directed and filmed. It will definitely appeal to all who grew up with the eponymous series. Great acting by Daniel Auteuil and Maleaume Paquin in particular. The addition of an "after story" with an older Rémi is also an interesting one. We highly recommend it, including with kids.

A really beautiful movie with good acting and a good story

It tells you to never lose hope. Even in the darkest hours of your life, when you feel there's none. Because you'll never know what's in store for you in the future.

And if you are determined to learn something, you will learn it little by little til it grows big. Especially when you have the purpose why you wanna learn. In Remi's case, he wanted to learn the alphabet so that he could know how to assemble the letters in words and in sentence. So that he could write letters to her mom Barbaran.

Life is like a Ferris wheel. It keeps spinning and spinning. You could be the next on top. Just keep moving.

Remi Sans Famille: We recorded this movie on the strength of Daniel Auteuil mentioned on the credit and also for our grandchildren due to spend some time with us during their school holiday.

(This did not happen thanks to Covid 19!) But we had a look at it recently.

"Sans Famille" rang a bell in my mind from my youth days but I could not recall it at all. Did I read the book or heard it on radio as a weekly session, I just don't know anymore.

I have to say though, I found the film rather disappointing and surprised it scores an average of 7+.

Despite living the end of my 8th decade I still do find children's story very enjoyable. Recently I have seen Belle and Sebastien X3, Heidi, The school of life with much pleasure. (again thanks to C19!) So what went wrong for me with "Remi Nobody's Boy"? It had one of my favourite actor, a cute kid and such a nice setting (yes, without knowing I felt the area was within the "Massif Central", (old mountains in the centre of France) where I spent only one Summer vacations with my boarding school crowd. A wonderful area that left such nice memories in my mind despite the short experience it was. I also loved Capi the dog and Rousette the cow, not so sure about Jolie Coeur the monkey!

But perhaps what got my nose out of joint was I felt the story was also a little out of joint. It is quite all over the place (yet speaking French!). The old man telling his story as a kid did not work for me. I would have much prefer to get it straight as it happened. Then the unthinkable happens... And this again did not work for me, perhaps it did and will for others.

...Struggling to exhaustion in the snow with a burning lamp? Then a nice camp fire, again on the snow, made pretty pictures but seemed a little unnatural.

I would also say the outcome is pretty predictable, which I have to concede is not always a bad thing.

However I have seen plenty well touted movies which left my friends and I rather confused. Perhaps I was expecting too much and may have, also, got up on the wrong side of the bed on that particular day!

I hope it will be a better experience for you.