Heiners Filmseiten – The Fire That Burns (en)

The Fire That Burns

(La ville dont le prince est un enfant)

German title: Die Stadt, deren König ein Kind ist
Spain title: La ciudad en la que reina un niño
Russian title: Огонь, который горит
Original title: La ville dont le prince est un enfant

Literature movie – France
Production year: 1996
Movie length: 91 minutes

Director: Christophe Malavoy
Writer: Didier Decoin, Henry de Montherlant
Cinematograph: Bernard Lutic

Movie description:

Fifteen-year-old Sevrais and twelve-year-old Souplier share a special friendship. They meet in secret and exchange small tokens of friendship, little gifts and romantic words in letters – always marked with »to be burned« – aware that, while their relationship is not uncommon, it’s frowned upon and forbidden by the strict school authorities. To make matters worse, one of the teachers, the Abbe de Pradts, sees the young Souplier as his protégé (and fixation) and doesn’t want his own influence on the affectionate youth to be being interfered with. When Abbe de Pradts discovers the relationship between his pupils, his jealousy is awakened and he starts plotting a cruel plan to put a stop to it.

An exceptional adaption of a French play set in a boys Catholic boarding school between the wars where forbidden romance surfaces in the cloisters. André Sevrais, one of the older boys at the school forms a chaste relationship with Serge Souplier, one of the younger boys. The head of the teaching staff, Father DePradts is also a secret admirer of young Serge who sets out to seperate the two boys. Within the pressurized atmosphere of the school the inevitable conclusion is reached. In the book the protagonists are older but in this TV movie they are aged about 12 and 15 which seems to work better. As you may already have guessed, »La Ville dont le prince et un enfant« has already become one of my favorite films for telling a tragic tale with restraint and without resorting to histrionics. Nael Marandin and Clement van den Berg give superbly judged performances as the star crossed pair. In particular, Clement van den Berg is very effective as a constant fidget, incapable of staying still.

Boy Actors