Les Innocents (film)

Les Innocents
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	André Téchiné
Produced by	Philippe Carcassonne Alain Terzian
Written by	Pascal Bonitzer André Téchiné
Starring	Sandrine Bonnaire Simon de La Brosse Abdel Kechiche Jean-Claude Brialy
Music by	Philippe Sarde
Cinematography	Renato Berta
Edited by	Martine Giordano
Distributed by	UGC
Release date	23 December 1987
Running time	100 minutes
Country	France
Language	French

Les Innocents (English: The Innocents) is a 1987 French drama film directed by André Téchiné and starring Sandrine Bonnaire, Simon de La Brosse and Abdel Kechiche. The plot follows a girl who, whilst looking for her runaway brother, encounters a number of people who influence her life. The film was partially inspired by a William Faulkner novel. Téchiné uses several French-Arab relationships to mirror the tensions between France and its former colonies.

Jean-Claude Brialy won a César award for Best Supporting Actor and the film was nominated for three other César awards: Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Music.

Jeanne, a young woman born and raised in Northern France, is visiting the Mediterranean for the first time. She arrives at the southern French seaport of Toulon to attend the wedding of her older sister Maïté to Nourredine, a North African. However, her main goal is to repatriate her deaf-mute younger brother, Alain, with whom she had been living following the death of their parents. At the wedding celebration, Jeanne meets Klotz, a middle age orchestra conductor prone to drinking. Jeanne re-encounter with Alain is not a happy one. She learns that her teenager brother has been supporting himself pickpocketing under the tutelage of Saïd, a Frenchman of Algerian descent who approached Jeanne on her arrival in the city. Jeanne sleeps next to her brother; but the next morning, Alain runs away stealing all of Jeanne’s money, even a family heirloom that she has brought as a wedding gift for Maïté.

Desperate to find Alain, Jeanne goes to the elementary school where Maïté works, to see if she knows where Alain might be. Maïté is disappointed with her two siblings and she is in no mood to help. In her lunch hour from work, a lover is waiting for Maïté, who confesses to Jeanne that she got married with Nourredine only to have a child.

Jeanne's first lead in finding her brother is the struggling orchestra conductor Klotz, a bisexual older man who is infatuated with Saïd. Saïd treats Klotz very badly, but Klotz lust after the handsome and cocky Saïd. When Jeanne visits Klotz's luxurious beach-side villa, she meets Klot'z son Stéphane, who is recovering from a coma, and Stéphane's overbearing mother, Myrian. Stéphane is immediately attracted to Jeanne and takes her in his motorcycle to the auditorium where his father is rehearsing with his orchestra.