L’enfance nue

The singular French director Maurice Pialat puts his distinctive stamp on the lost-youth film with this devastating portrait of a damaged foster child. We watch as ten-year-old François (Michel Terrazon) is shuttled from one home to another, his behavior growing increasingly erratic, his bonds with his surrogate parents perennially fraught. In this, his feature debut, Pialat treats that potentially sentimental scenario with astonishing sobriety and stark realism. With its full-throttle mixture of emotionality and clear-eyed skepticism, L’enfance nue (Naked Childhood) was advance notice of one of the most masterful careers in French cinema, and remains one of Pialat’s finest works.

France
1968
83 minutes
Color
1.66:1
French
Spine #534

Special Features

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

Restored high-definition digital transfer
L’amour existe, director Maurice Pialat’s poetic 1960 short film about life on the outskirts of Paris
Autour de “L’enfance nue,” a documentary shot just after the film’s release
Excerpts from a 1973 French television interview with Pialat
Visual essay by critic Kent Jones on the film and Pialat’s cinematic style
Video interview with Pialat collaborators Arlette Langmann and Patrick Grandperret
PLUS: An essay by critic Phillip Lopate

Cover by Steve Chow

DVD 1 Disc $23.96 SRP: $29.95

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

Restored high-definition digital transfer
L’amour existe, director Maurice Pialat’s poetic 1960 short film about life on the outskirts of Paris
Autour de “L’enfance nue,” a documentary shot just after the film’s release
Excerpts from a 1973 French television interview with Pialat
Visual essay by critic Kent Jones on the film and Pialat’s cinematic style
Video interview with Pialat collaborators Arlette Langmann and Patrick Grandperret
PLUS: An essay by critic Phillip Lopate

Cover by Steve Chow