François, a ten-year-old boy, has been handed over to foster care by his mother—who’s unwilling to give up permanent custody. His destructive behaviour precipitates his relocation from the home of a long-term foster family to the care of a benevolent elderly couple.

Maurice Pialat was 43 when he released this stunning debut produced by François Truffaut. The same generation as the French New Wave, Pialat blossomed later with an approach not based on cinephilia but on truth: beyond pretty pictures, swept in brash storytelling and raw emotion.