Storyline

This is a jolly coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy named Laurent Chevalier who is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon, France. This is France in the mid-1950s rather than America in the 1990s. Thus, Laurent is unharmed by events which would irreparably shatter the self-esteem of a modern American adolescent: he gets drunk, he smokes, he has sex, he is smothered by his mother, he is ignored by his father, a priest makes a pass at him, he gets rheumatoid fever, etc. There's enough scandalous behavior in this film to make 100 made-for-TV movies, and yet this is a very happy and oddly innocent tale.—Tim Horrigan

Plot Keywords

mother son incest, first time sex, mother son relationship, coming of age, puberty, gynecologist, teenage sex, incest, reference to penis size, penis, nudity, sexuality, medical examination, illness, 14 year old, male frontal nudity, love, 1950s, sex, kiss

Short Review

It casts a fresh, vigorous and unclouded eye on adolescence as it really is rather than as we would like it to be.

Trailer

Streaming Service

1. Amazon Video : Rent from $1.99, Or $0.00 with a Prime membership