Wild Reeds

A boarding school in southwest France, 1962. The Algerian war is ending, and four teenagers live that collapse inside their own lives: François is recognising that he is gay, Maïté grows up in the shadow of a communist mother, Serge is a farm boy alone at school, and Henri is a French settler expelled from Algeria and furious about it. André Téchiné refuses to make them symbols of the politics; he lets the politics leak into their ordinary days instead. Its finest observation is that in adolescence identity and allegiance are assembled at the same time. The scene by the river is among the most cited in French cinema. It was named best film of the year in France and Téchiné won for direction. Who it is for: viewers who like French films about youth and identity. Who it is not for: those without the historical background, since some of the friction may stay opaque.