A Childhood

Jimmy is thirteen and spending the summer in a small French town. It is not much like a holiday: his mother is disappearing into drugs and drink, his stepfather drags her down rather than holding her up, and Jimmy is the only person looking after his little brother. There is no time left for him to have a childhood. The town is small, there is no way out, and the summer is long. Philippe Claudel, a novelist, directed the film, which uses the familiar shape of the social drama without preaching. The mother is shown not as a bad person but as someone who cannot carry her own life. Jules Gauzelin plays Jimmy; he is not a professional and he carries the weight of the film. The telling promises no rescue; it watches patiently as a child is forced to behave like an adult.