Les turlupins

I liked this film mainly because it is the first French language film I have watched that I could understand quite well, although the English subtitles helped a lot. I have watched a lot of French movies, but always could only understand a word here and there. But in Les Turlupins most of the actors enunciated their lines so perfectly that I would recommend the film to anyone keen to learn French. Also the quirky behaviour of the boys and the very sensual demeanour of the girls was a eye-opener. Perhaps they were living through a war and just thought every day might be their last. An enjoyable movie.

There isn't a lot to recommend this feature. The main actors are realistic as are many of the embarrassing situations the boys go through. Fans of boarding school movies or people particularly familiar with the goofiness and longing of adolescent boys will appreciate the film. The film lacks a singular plot line from which to tell of the vignettes. This weakens the film and prevents it from being memorable. It seems the boarding school authorities are awfully lax and therefore the film is almost a teenage fantasy film. The behavior of the "object of desire" is fantastic as well - why would a beautiful young woman engaged to a decent young man consent to have sex with a younger teenage boy? Warning for the timid: the film contains a fair amount of nudity (both sexual and non-sexual) and sexual dialogue.