THE STORY – August 1992. A stifling hot afternoon in a lost valley somewhere in Eastern France with its extinguished blast furnaces and its lake. Anthony, 14 years old, and his cousin kill boredom by the lake, meeting with Steph and Clem. For Anthony, this will turn out to be the summer of his first love, that which defines everything. The bittersweet moment in life marking the end of childhood and one’s coming of age. But there’s also Hacine, a young rebel from the neighbourhood. And a motorcycle he steals from Anthony, that turns their whole life upside down. Over the course of four crucial summers, the destinies of Anthony, Steph and Hacine intersect, collide and intertwine. And in the midst of all this turmoil, love will try to find its way…
THE CAST – Paul Kircher, Angelina Woreth, Sayyid El Alami, Gilles Lellouche, Ludivine Sagnier & Louis Memmi
THE TEAM – Zoran Boukherma, Ludovic Boukherma (Directors/Writers) & Nicolas Mathieu (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 144 Minutes
Lives change for better or worse during summer holidays, and that’s especially true in Zoran and Ludovic Boukherma’s “Boyhood“-esque coming-of-age drama “Leurs Enfants Après Eux” (“And Their Children After Them”). Spanning four emotionally-charged summers, the lives of horny, love-stricken, and tough teenagers are intertwined in several ways under the French sun. There are shades of “West Side Story” within this adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu’s book of the same name, especially as two teens, one from France and the other from Morocco, clash and experience summers differently. However, the film does little to go beyond the stereotypes.
In the summer of 1992, Anthony (Paul Kircher) and his cousin spend their days lounging around beaches and getting into trouble in an industrial valley in eastern France, with American rock hits from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Aerosmith coloring the soundtrack of their lives. They don’t know it yet, but on one particularly scorching hot day, their lives will change forever when they meet two cute young women. This is especially true for Anthony, an awkward teenager immediately taken by Steph (Angelina Woreth) — cinematographer Augustin Barbaroux captures her every curve when lying in the sun — but can never make the right move. Hints of Timothee Chalamet’s Elio from “Call Me By Your Name” come through Kircher’s performance, trying to pursue the sun-kissed love whenever he can. Where they differ is in their home lives, where Anthony deals with an abusive, alcoholic father, Patrick (Gilles Lellouche), and mother, Hélène (Ludivine Sagnier), who continuously has to protect her son and stand up to her husband.
Elsewhere, Moroccan teen Hacine (Sayyid El Alami) needs to find work to help his ailing father, but few are welcoming to immigrants in this town. Instead of having fun with friends and chasing girls, Hacine and his close group of immigrant friends are sequestered in their small neighborhood where they don’t face the world’s fury. When he and a friend venture out to go to a white kid’s party — where Anthony and his cousin are as well after Anthony steals his father’s beloved motorbike — tensions run high, and Hacine and Anthony get caught in a feud that will have dire consequences for them both.
The first of four summer sequences is the strongest in terms of establishing characters and the tumultuous times they live in. After Hacine steals Anthony’s father’s bike, Anthony and Hélène are sent into a frenzy to get it back, knowing all too well what consequences lie ahead of them if Patrick finds out. Similarly, when Hacine’s father learns of his son’s wrongdoing, he quickly takes serious action. However, neither of these storylines goes beyond basic stereotypes. There’s not much else we learn about Anthony other than he’s a horny teenager who’s afraid of his father, and with Hacine, the Boukhermas do little to explore his immigrant upbringing or expand upon the racism he faces. This, in particular, is a letdown, as he’s immediately painted as the villain with no further explanation. Not to mention, it feels like a cheap shot and does nothing to move away from the “immigrants are scary, savage people” cliche that has been seen time and time again.
In later chapters, we see these two boys change as they age — the hairstyling and makeup team does a great job showing the progression of time with all the characters — but, again, there is little substantial development. In the summer of 1994, Anthony is a more mature and sexually confident teen who isn’t afraid of going after what he wants. Hacine, similarly, is more confident after living in Morocco, and there’s a quiet rage burning inside him, ready to take revenge on Anthony for the way he humiliated him two summers ago. Once again, Hacine is the villain of this story, wielding a weapon and ready to attack whoever gets in his way, while Anthony gets to enjoy the good life. Similarly, Anthony’s father is only ever known as the deadbeat dad who loves liquor more than anything else.
Based on what they’re given, Kircher and El Alami handle the many phases of their characters’ lives well. Anthony goes from an awkward teen to a confident lover to a young man ready for military service, and Kircher manages to present his character in a new light with each chapter. El Alami holds his head high as he navigates Hacine’s tumultuous life. His storyline gets a bit lost during the third summer, but seeingit’s him shed the “villain” label by the fourth act and have a normal conversation with Anthony is lovely.
While that storyline lacks depth, the Boukherma brothers take great care in forming the budding relationship between Anthony and Steph. Each time they reconnect, there’s more of an attraction between them, and it’s easily the most exciting element of this film. There’s definite chemistry between Kircher and Woreth, and their reunion during Bastille Day 1996 is particularly steamy to see. Much like the other characters in the film, however, we don’t know much about Steph other than she’s a student who can’t wait to get out of her small town – we’ve heard that storyline many times before. Barbaroux’s cinematography is also a plus here as he captures the dreamy and hazy hues of summer in every chapter, making lakes look so inviting and the greenery around them vividly lush.
It’s a shame that “And Their Children After Them” didn’t take full advantage of its nearly 2.5-hour runtime to richly develop its characters and explore the mature themes. This could have been the next great coming-of-age film like “Boyhood” or “Call Me By Your Name,” but it reduces its characters to nothing more than a horny teenager, violent immigrant and alcoholic father. At least it has some good tunes and beautiful images to look at.
