(1987; Goodbye, Children; French, German, English) Upset at having to leave his mother, Julien Quentin (Gaspard Manesse) and his older brother François (Stanislas Carré De Malberg) take a train from Paris in the fall of 1943 to St John of the Cross convent, a Catholic boarding school for boys of wealthy families run by monks. When a bookish, new student, Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejto), enters, he's teased (called "Easter Bonnet") and bullied initially.

Cold and hungry on short rations, sleeping in one large dormitory (Julien reads The Arabian Nights and other books with a flashlight under the covers), the boys play rough on stilts, barter for cigarettes, refer to the monks as "monkeys," and take shelter (along with their algebra texts) during air raids. Julien trades jars of jam he receives from his mother for rare postage stamps from Joseph (François Négret), an older boy with a limp employed in the kitchen, who exchanges the treats for a girl's favors.

Adept at playing piano, Jean impresses the young music teacher, Mile Davenne, and challenges Julien for academic supremacy among a collection of otherwise mediocre pupils. During confession, Father Jean (Philippe Morier-Genoud) requests from Julien (whom he says lacks a calling to the Church) thoughtfulness and consideration toward Jean. The two become better acquainted and share an enjoyment of literature, discussing The Three Musketeers.

Against the priests' protestations, the militia searches the school, looking for draft dodgers. As the children in their short pants enter the public bath for their every-other week bathing, they pass a sign: "No Jews allowed." In the middle of the night, Julien wakes to Jean's reciting his prayers in a foreign mumble; earlier he'd said he was Protestant. Stealthily going through other boys' lockers, Julien discovers a mathematics book of Jean's with the surname Kippelstein.

When Julien asks François (who wants a note passed to Mile) what being a Jew means, he's told that they are very smart, don't eat pork, and crucified Christ, though the younger sibling replies that the Romans were responsible for executing Jesus.

In a contest of two teams searching for a hidden prize in the woods and rocks, Julien, after he and Jean flee from others, alone finds the treasure box; but by then he realizes it's late and he's alone in the dark, when Jean appears. Together after curfew seeking the way back to the school, they're caught by a German patrol and returned with a gentle warning.

On the day of visitation, Julien and François's mother comes to see them. To the gathered guests and the children, Father Jean preaches a stern sermon, contrasting the biblical warnings directed at the wealthy with need for charity and closing with a reminder to pray for both the victims and their executioners; during communion he passes over Jean.

Along with her two sons, Mrs Quentin takes Jean out to lunch at a restaurant where an unpleasant scene takes place: militiamen, after examining the papers of an older gentleman, command him to exit the premises for being a Jew, but German officers at a nearby table, noticing the disapproval from staff and patrons, as well as the presence of an attractive woman, order the militiamen to depart. Mrs Quentin remarks to the boys on the decency of some Germans. Saying he wants to join the Resistance, François upsets his mother, while Julien asks her if she would approve of his becoming a priest.

During an air raid, Jean and Julien ignore the siren and play piano together; they come upon Joseph, who'd been fired for stealing, in the kitchen. The Gestapo, using information from an informer, forcefully remove students who are Jews or foreigners, along with Father Jean for hiding them, before closing the school. "Goodbye, Father," call out Julien and the remaining French students as the monk and the others are escorted away; Father Jean responds: "Goodbye, children."

The film, based on the childhood memories of director/writer Louis Malle from his having attended a Catholic boarding school during World War II, closes with the fates of those sent to Nazi concentration camps.

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