Adapted from the novel by Nicolas Mathieu, “Their children after them” portrays adolescents from peri-urban areas of eastern France in the 1990s. It was released on December 4, 2024.
Among the cinema releases of the week, we find Their children after them. This adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel by Nicolas Mathieu (which won the Goncourt Prize in 2018) is directed by Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma. It begins in the middle of the summer of 1992, in the peri-urban area of eastern France in full deindustrialization. A 14-year-old teenager, Anthony, is bored until he meets Stephanie. It’s love at first sight for the two teenagers which will change their lives forever over four summers.
After phew lovehere is a new sentimental and romantic fresco, condemned by violence and social romanticism, which is released in cinemas. The novel received support from literary critics upon its publication in 2018. It is therefore not surprising to note that the film adaptation also made the press happy. Their children after them is “an adaptation worthy of the literary masterpiece” for The Parisianwhich salutes this ‘fresco spanning several eras’, both a ‘heartbreaking family story’ and a ‘passionate love story’. L’Echo considers it a ‘faithful adaptation’ of the novel.
Critics agree to praise the performance of Paul Kircher, “formidable” for Télérama, a few months after being nominated for the César for best male hopeful for The animal kingdom. He also won the Best Newcomer Award at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in Their children after them. For its part, L’Est Républicain judges that Gilles Lellouche “breaks the screen in this dark role”. More measured, Les Echos believes that “the result may frustrate readers most attached to the subtleties of the novel, but the project wins with its generosity and youthful energy.” An adaptation to be discovered in theaters this Wednesday, December 4.
Synopsis – August 92. A lost valley in the East, blast furnaces that no longer burn. Anthony, 14, is bored. One hot afternoon at the lake, he meets Stéphanie. The love at first sight is such that that same evening, he secretly borrows his father’s motorbike to go to a party where he hopes to find her. When the next morning he realizes that the motorcycle has disappeared, his life is turned upside down…