Films about childhood inevitably come up against a pair of cherished Truffaut classics, 1959's THE 400 BLOWS and 1975's SMALL CHANGE. Happily, the charming, often darkly comic CROSS MY HEART holds its own.
The film opens with the unexpected death of the mother of 12-year-old Martin Gaudinier (Sylvain Copans, who even bears a physical resemblance to Jean-Pierre Leaud's young "Antoine Doinel"). As he never knew his father, Martin, in fear of being sent to the nearby Dickensian-looking orphanage,
confides in his schoolmates. Led by his best pal Jerome (Nicolas Marodi), they devise elaborate stratagems for keeping the death a secret, including a nighttime burial in a field (a grandfather clock case serving as a coffin) and warding off adult investigation.
Written, co-produced and directed by Jacques Fansten, CROSS MY HEART hits all the right notes; it is partly a fable in which the children are all resourceful, selfless, and don't seem to need the care of adults, all without "becoming" them in terms of precocious behavior. In this, the film
escapes the pretension that marred the similar OUR MOTHER'S HOUSE or the baldly symbolic LORD OF THE FLIES. CROSS MY HEARTS is also wickedly humorous in spots and touching, without being sentimental, in others, and it's often surprisingly suspenseful (one of the boys describes their efforts as
"like a Hitchcock film"). Fansten's styling of the movie is simple and direct, and he succeeds admirably with his young cast, all nonprofessionals. leave a comment
