Extremely unconventional sociology study from first time feature director Maurice Pialat, who, with the help of producer Francois Truffaut, lays bare the workings of the foster care system.

Pialat observes the transition of a ten year old boy (Michel Tarrazon, heartbreakingly realistic) from one foster family to another, his troublesome antics seemingly clashing with the kind, but frustrated parents who attend to him. The boy is a classic study in psychological regression; at times he’s actively disobedient, and with friends he commits petty crimes with ease, but other times he’s a genuine child, attentive to his foster parents and their stories, respectful of elders and cousins during a wedding reception. Unlike in “The 400 Blows”, where Antoine’s troubles seem to stem from lack of attention, our hero here is generally cared for, which makes his problems and behavior all the more confusing and frustrating.

Pialat directs with a cinema verite attention to the scene, cutting from place to place with ellipses that never connects time in an easy manner, suggesting the disorienting nature in which foster children live as “temporary” sons and daughters. It’s a difficult experience, and rarely rewarding, even to a patient audience, but for niche buffs interested in the immediate post New Wave crop of French directors, this is an important film.