Remi sans famille (2018)

Directed by: Antoine Blossier | 105 minutes | drama, adventure, comedy | Actors: Daniel Auteuil, Maleaume Paquin, Virginie Ledoyen, Jonathan Zaccaï, Jacques Perrin, Ludivine Sagnier, Albane Masson, Zoe Boyle, Nicholas Rowe, Nicola Duffett, Simon Armstrong, Fleur Geffrier, Jérôme Cachon, Xavier Lafitte, Elliot Bousson, Océane Le Caoussin , Margaux Le Caoussin, Said Alami

Anyone who grew up in the seventies and eighties can probably still remember the story of ‘Alone in the world’ by Hector Malot. Originally this French book appeared in 1878; The Dutch translation appeared two years later. The book’s popularity increased enormously due to the adaptation into a 51-episode animated series by the Japanese Tokyo Movie Shinsha, broadcast on TV in the Netherlands by the AVRO. The fact that the story still appeals to the imagination is apparent from the countless adaptations. The VPRO recently released a free film version of the classic history about the foundling Remi (“Alone in the world”, 2016), but the new film version by French filmmaker Antoine Blossier, ‘Rémi sans famille’ (2018), remains closer at the original.

France, nineteenth century. Ten-year-old Rémi lives with his mother in a simple farm in the French countryside. Although the two are not rich, they are happy. That changes when his mother receives a message from his father, who works as a stonemason in Paris. Father Jérôme urgently needs money for a lawsuit against his employer. To make ends meet, Rémi and his mother have to sell their greatest possession, the cow Roussette. Remi is inconsolable. Things get worse when Jérôme loses the lawsuit and a broken man comes home. When he discovers Rémi, he angrily lashes out at Rémi’s mother. What Rémi then hears, makes his world collapse.

Rémi turns out to be a foundling, his mother is not his real mother. Jérôme promises his mother to go to the mayor to ask for a financial allowance, but in reality he wants to take Rémi to the orphanage. When Rémi finds out, he manages to escape for a short time, but in the village pub Jérôme has the boy again. Alarmed by the noise that has arisen, an old, gray stranger asks about the story of Rémi and Jérôme. He makes a proposal to Jérôme: instead of taking the boy to the orphanage, he can also earn money from it. He offers Jérôme a hefty sum to hire the boy, and the heartless Jérôme agrees. There is no other option for Rémi, he has to go with that strange man, Vitalis.

Vitalis is a traveling musician. With his monkey Joli-Coeur and his dog Capi he travels around France to perform and earn money. He had already discovered that Rémi has a golden voice and sees opportunities to improve his act. Initially, Rémi is only homesick and doesn’t like Vitalis, but when he notices that the man treats him well and wants the best for him, he begins to bond with Vitalis.

‘Rémi sans famille’ is a nice film adaptation of the famous story. The actors are good, sometimes even fantastic (Daniel Auteuil as Vitalis!), the decoration is beautiful and the tempo is good. Of course a lot of elements from the story have been deleted to benefit the playing time, but that doesn’t disturb at all. Where the film is a bit skewed is the character Rémi. It could have had a little more frayed edges. Now it is as if he is hardly challenged, he falls from one change to another, one even more violent than the other, but without evoking emotions in the viewer. This does not detract from the entertainment value; ‘Rémi sans famille’ is above all a family film, in which young viewers will attach less value to convincing character development. Especially for them, this is a wonderful adventure with cute animals and an unusual friendship.