I recently watched the Jean-Claude Brialy film, Un Bon Petit Diable (A Good Little Devil). It deals with the morality of childcare, and child-raising, and presents a historical view of orphanhood in France, in a manner that is eminently accessible to all ages. It raises, forcefully, the question of what constitutes reasonable chastisement of a child, but does so with a sufficient touch of humour as to make the pathos palatable, and even make the film enjoyable. The quality is such as to put the film in the same league as Truffaut's Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows), Pelle the Conqueror, and other luminescent films of the genre. As a film to start a debate about child-raising, this is excellent. The acting, cinematography, and direction are also first-rate.
Review of Un bon petit diable
