Set in a rural Catholic boarding school during the Nazi occupation of France, the film charts the friendship between Julien and new boy Jean. But Julien is soon burdened with a dangerous secret, that Jean is a Jew who is being hidden from the Nazis by the friars who run the school. This award winning film is based on events from the director's own childhood during World War II.
At the end of the Christmas holidays in 1943, Julien Quentin, the son of a wealthy family, reluctantly returns to the tedium of his boarding school in the French countryside. But then the headmaster, Père Jean, introduces three new pupils to the school, one of whom, Jean Bonnet, is the same age as Julien. Before Jean's arrival, Julien had been the class leader, both academically and influentially, but the new student appears to be Julien's academic and artistic superior. Whilst respectful of his classmate's abilities, Julien is naturally a little envious which leads to some rivalry between them. This however turns into healthy competition and eventually, with growing mutual respect, the two become friends.
One night in the school dormitory Julien awakes to find Jean wearing a kippah and praying in the Hebrew language. After searching Jean's locker, Julien discovers the truth about his new friend whose real name is Kippelstein. He and the other two new pupils have been granted secret asylum by Père Jean who is now hiding the children from the Nazis. During a visit by Julien's mother, Jean accompanies them to a restaurant for lunch. Two Milice officers arrive and attempt to expel an elderly and distinguished gentleman whom they identity as Jewish, but a German officer dining at a neighbouring table steps in and orders the 'collaborators' out of the establishment.
Joseph, the school's kitchen assistant, is then exposed for selling the school's food supplies on the black market and he implicates several students as accomplices, including Julien and his brother, François. Père Jean has no choice but to dismiss Joseph although he refrains from expelling the students for the sake of their parents. Following this, on a cold morning in January 1944, the school is raided by the Gestapo. As Julien's classroom is searched and the Gestapo officer asks for the identification of Jean Kippelstein, Julien unintentionally gives away Jean Bonnet by looking in his direction. The other two Jewish boys are then hunted down and Julien encounters their informant, Joseph the kitchen assistant.
As the students are lined up in the courtyard, the Gestapo officer denounces the illegal nature of Père Jean's actions, declaring that as a result the school will close. Père Jean and the three Jewish boys are led away by the officers. The children call out, "Au revoir, mon père!" and Père Jean responds, "Au revoir, les enfants! À bientôt!"
A deeply personal and tragic examination of the Holocaust, childhood friendship and accidental betrayal. Told from the perspective of a child, it captures the fearful nature of children under enormous pressure from external events they cannot comprehend.
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