The Fantastic Three

Max is twelve, quick-witted and brave. He feels he has two families: his actual one, and Tom and Vivian, the two friends he is never apart from at school or outside it. The three call themselves the Fantastic Three and are constantly arranging things to make each other's lives easier. Things are harder in the real family, and Max struggles to tell his friends about it. Michaël Dichter treats childhood friendship as solidarity: each of the three is dealing with something at home and escaping to the others' houses. The telling sits between comedy and drama and works not to crush the children's vantage with adult commentary. Diego Murgia plays Max, with Emmanuelle Bercot and Raphaël Quenard among the adults. Who it's for: Viewers who like French stories of childhood, drama built on friendship, and warm-toned family films. Who it's not for: The plot is small and the resolution familiar. Most of the adult characters stay thin.