Gaspard Manesse plays Julien, an 11-year-old Catholic boarding-school resident during the Nazi occupation of France. He is witness to the courage of his instructors, who defy the German’s anti-Semitic policies and quietly enrol Jewish children into the school under assumed names. Manesse befriends Jean (Raphael Fejto), one of these “instant Catholics”. For this return to the French film industry after several years in the US, Louis Malle purged himself of his own bitter memories of life under the thumbs of the Nazis.