The Childhood of a Leader (2015) User Reviews

How about a parenting class?

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 21 July 2016]

Greetings again from the darkness. Brady Corbet has established a pretty nice career as an actor (Melancholia, Funny Games), and along comes his feature film debut as a writer/director (co-written with Mona Fastvold). In this day of remakes and reboots, this one is anything but. The "Overture" sets the mood with video clips of the WWI aftermath and the explosive score from Scott Walker quickly establishes itself as a character unto itself.

Subsequent title cards are broken into three "Tantrums", as we witness the ever-escalating inappropriate behavior from young Prescott (Tom Sweet). In what on the surface could be classified as a nature vs nurture expose', the film leaves little doubt that Prescott is rebelling against the monotony of his environment and the disengaged parents to which he is tethered. However, it also seems evident that young Prescott is inherently "off". He seems to be cold and emotionally removed as he engages in battles of will with his parents … his father (Liam Cunningham) a US diplomat knee-deep in negotiations that will lead to the Treaty of Versailles, and his mother (Berenice Bejo), a self-described "citizen of the world".

Two obvious film comparisons would be The Omen (1976) and We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011). The ominous music and settings leave little doubt that we are headed somewhere very dark here, though it's not in the religious sense of The Omen and it's more global than the intimacy of 'Kevin'. Thinking of this as evil in the making would be a just description, though a different title might have held the ending a bit longer.

Support work is provided by Stacy Martin as the French teacher and Yolanda Moreau as the housekeeper who has moments of connection with the challenging Prescott, but Robert Pattison fans will be surprised at how little screen time he has – especially for dual roles.

Young Tom Sweet is fascinating to watch in a very tough role for a child actor, and director Corbet proves he is a filmmaker we should follow closely. His visual acumen is something special, and offsets a script that could have used a bit of polishing. The movie will probably prove divisive – either you will find it mesmerizing and creepy, or you simply won't connect at all. That's often the case with a creative and bold project.

Ambitious, with a memorable soundtrack and twist ending, but little re-watch value once one already knows the twist

[crculver · 5/10 · 13 March 2017]

Brady Corbet's 2015 film, THE CHILDHOOD OF A LEADER, the young actor's debut as a director, bills itself as the story of a little boy who eventually grows up to be a fascist leader. As the film opens we are introduced to Prescott (Tom Sweet), who is wearing angel wings as he rehearses for a Christmas pageant, but is clearly our demon spawn protagonist: simply directing the child to never smile was enough for the filmmaker to underscore how the boy's a bit warped.

Prescott has been brought to France in the immediate aftermath of World War I. His cold, strict father (Liam Cunningham) is an American diplomat helping draft the Versailles peace treaty. The boy and his French-born mother (Bérénice Bejo) stay in a manor house in a small town. The film is divided into three "tantrums" where Prescott unleashes violence on those around him, all played out against the backdrop of vicious diplomatic negotiations where the victorious Allies seek to harshly punish the loser Germany -- a humiliation traditionally blamed for the rise of Hitler and other fascist demagogues. Besides the vindictiveness being shown on the international scale among diplomats and men of state, Prescott is also confronted by intrigues within his own home: his father's affair with his governess (Stacy Martin), and his mother's mysterious relationship with his father's friend Charles (Robert Pattinson). Add to this appalling class divisions that make the family masters of an enormous home and the local peasants merely their servants, and there's plenty of cause to lose faith in noble ideals and justice.

My interest was originally drawn to this film because its score was supplied by Scott Walker, who started out as a 1960s crooner and gradually became one of the most intense avant-garde pop artists around. Walker's score, purely instrumental (you won't hear his famous voice here) consists of intimidating martial passages for full orchestra and atonal string threnodies. I was initially sceptical that this would work, as I haven't warmed to Walker's earlier purely instrumental work, and I thought his modernist style might clash with the early 20th-century setting. In fact, Walker's score is excellent, boosting the intensity of the action. Lol Crawley's camera work is initially restrained but given free rein as the film reaches its climax, making for some memorable shots.

The film makes, I think, an interesting point about people who grow up to be evil in that, even though we are shown various traumatic childhood experiences and cruel or neglectful parenting that we can point to and say "That's what did it", they nonetheless remain a mystery. Prescott's a black box, we are never sure how exactly the events of childhood are processed in his mind so that we end up with the stunning reveal that we ultimately get. Audiences can expect to see the eventual rise of a fascist leader because this was repeatedly underlined in the film's publicity, but Corbet throws a curveball that makes for a shocking twist ending.

But my rating for this film eventually had to account for the film's diminishing appeal once one has already seen the twist: there isn't much re-watch value here, as the slow pacing and invariable sombreness of the film grates once it is no longer rewarded by the final jump into action and revelation. And while I love Scott Walker's work, apparently some viewers will consider the music a bad thing. I do take issue, however, with those who want to label A CHILDHOOD OF A LEADER "pretentious". If this film is to some degree a failure, it is nonetheless a noble one because Corbet dreamt of an epic scope and a highly original story in spite of the limited means available to him for his first effort as a director.

Confused but couldn't stop thinking about it

[darren-153-890810 · 6/10 · 1 September 2016]

This is a brilliantly brave attempt to make a challenging and striking piece of art.

On that level it works. The opening credits and first 10 minutes are intense. The Scott Walker soundtrack really pulls you in and immediately makes you think this is no ordinary film. And for that I loved it.

The acting is absolutely superb. Not at any stage do you think they are actors. The boy, the mum and the tutor are the stand outs.

The cinematography is superb, particularly near the end with the camera circling a dome, beautifully simple.

The overall look and feel reminded me of The Duke Of Burgundy (One of my fav films of recent)

There's not a lot of love in this family, thats for sure. The film is rather dull and slow though. I did find myself snnozebusting.

The ending made no sense either. It wasn't until I chatted to the guys in the cinema that we sort of worked it out.

I really respect the director for making a film like this. Im looking forward to his next film. Lets just hope more interesting stuff happens.

If you liked the Witch, you'll love this.

A flawed but powerful and very promising debut

[summerssimon · 30 August 2016]

A flawed but very promising directorial debut from Brady Corbet. The plot meanders a little, promising more than it ultimately manages to deliver. There are, though, plenty of great moments as the film unfolds and the increasingly oppressive atmosphere of isolation, alienation and menace intensifies. Scott Walker's soundtrack is gloriously weird and over the top, and is used to particularly powerful effect in the set piece sequences that open and close the film. The acting is uniformly excellent. Tom Sweet delivers a fine performance as The Boy, whose increasingly violent tantrums are a sign of grim things to come. This is an intelligent and subtle film. A very good debut, which falls just short of being great.

Well Intended Misfire

[zacknabo · 6/10 · 28 September 2016]

Brady Corbet has assimilated many wonderful visual styles which he has picked up over the past several years working with master directors such as Von Trier and Haneke, but this is all Corbet has accomplished. Reappropriating stunning visual film language does not a good director make, because used haphazardly the images lose their ominous, dark tone and are instead replaced with empty somewhat pretentious images that have nothing story or acting wise holding it up. So all we are left is a misfire. While Corbet is similar to another young director, Xavier Dolan, in that they are trapped exercising their personal influences, Dolan has more innate talent. I would say that Corbet's command of the camera at times is promising. The sad part is he has a great skeleton but no meat and few functioning organs. The performances are a bit flat, though they are only working with what they are giving. Bejo is tiresome and Pattinson is...Pattinson. The best scene is in the beginning where the young boy gets in trouble with snowballs, a possible reference to Abel Gance's Napoleon. Corbet like Napoleon is undone by his ambition. But I do wish more directors were this ambitious in their debuts. If nothing else Corbet swung for the fences...and he should know better: nobody does Haneke better than Haneke.

Corking soundtrack shame about the movie.

[fostrhod · 6/10 · 21 October 2018]

Spoilt brat does what he likes, the adults around him kowtow down to him. He eventually becomes a fascist leader.... that's about it really. On the other hand is as a stunning soundtrack by Scott Walker which works brilliantly with the movie. I suggest you watch the movie at a loud volume, drink in the stunning visuals and try to ignore the dialogue and ropey acting.

Doesn't work.

[sonelectric · 6/10 · 21 April 2019]

This movie has a lot going for it. Great cinematography, great acting and of course a good score (the dream sequence is genius). Sadly, the director can't take all these great parts and make it into a great movie, maybe because whenever you tackle such hard subjects you can't expect the audience to enjoy a fragmented delivery and a bad script. There are excellent scenes, sure, but the movie would have been much better without the ending. It would have worked well as just a story about a little monster and two bad parents. Throwing the totalitarian leader theme in the mix (I didn't say fascist because the soldiers clearly resemble the Red Army) made no sense at all. How does a foreign kid become the leader of a NATIONALIST movement//party??? His mother is German but the father is not, also the army uniforms and the state of the buildings suggests that he took power in a communist country in eastern Europe. It just made me laugh... Also the camera movement at the end was ... me rolling my eyes numerous times and calling the director more pretentious than Darren Aronofsky. Good effort, a lot of work for sure, but you can skip this one and not miss anything.

What happens when a soundtrack and script work against each other.

[MatthewInSydney · 3/10 · 14 June 2016]

Firstly I have to give credit to the visual design and acting in this film. Despite some too- modern dialogue, and a dull overuse of static shots of people standing talking to each other, the characters look convincingly like they inhabit a darkened between-world-wars Europe lit by dim lights through heavy curtains. It feels like a realistic period piece without the Downton Abbey gloss. And the story itself should have been gripping, but - and I must add a SPOILER warning - unfortunately, due to the strident music telegraphing that this kid is bad news right from the start, the ending loses most of it's power. I'm sure some people will love the music, but a score should serve the story, not detract from it. Maybe the music was pumped up to stop people losing interest during the early parts of the film, which is quite slow and features way too many repetitive scenes of a grouchy child being reprimanded. But there are other ways to keep audiences awake, like working on the dialogue, camera angles, editing etc, rather than loud ominous music that tells the audience more than they should know about where the film is going. The exact nature of the ending still manages to be surprising, but it doesn't have much power, and instead of being frightening it was just a relief to not have to watch more scenes of the cranky kid. The music at the opening of the film will put you on edge more than anything else in the film!

Amazing.

[mini-zappa · 8/10 · 18 May 2016]

Wow. That was amazing.

The story revolves around a wealthy American (or citizens of the world, as The Mother calls them) family at the end of WW1 in France. The movie centers on the kid, Prescott. He's not a "normal" kid, I guess. He's been acting up ever since they moved to another town. He takes French lessons from the teacher, Ada (played excellently by Stacy Martin), which The Father disapproves of, because he can't speak the language himself and he feels The Father works for the American government, right under President Jimmy Carter, so he goes on a lost of work trips, and he doesn't really care about getting to know the people of the town as much as The Mother does.

At the beginning of the film the kid got caught throwing rocks at the church members ("A Sign of Thing to Come) and the movie just goes from there. The film is divided in chapter in a really cool way (First Tantrum, Second Tantrum etc.). The whole film is stylized really old school, e.g there's an overture at the beginning and etc. That brings me to the score, oh my god. The score is amazing, it's very unsettling. Quite possibly the best score I've heard this year, Knight of Cups is the only competition.

All of the performances are fantastic, especially Tom Sweet as Prescott, Bèrènice Bejo as The Mother and Stacy Martin as Ada, or The Teacher. Robert Pattinson is great too as a friend of the family and widower Charles, in the few scenes he shows up in.

I can't believe this is Brady Corbet's directorial debut, because the film is directed so well. I knew he's a great actor (Funny Games U.S.), I had no idea he could direct. I cannot wait for his next project because this is one of the better directed films I've seen in a while. Everything felt unsettlingly natural and real, the cinematography was fantastic and all the actors were great, even the kid. Or especially the kid.

Oh yeah, by the way, this is not a horror movie, it has some horror-ish and surreal (although it never goes full Eraserhead or Enemy) elements and it's very unsettling but it's not a horror movie. I think the horror-ish stuff lies in the things we don't see, or the things to come.

Oh, and no spoiler but the ending was so amazing, holy crap.

This is the third, possibly second, best movie I've seen so far this year and I'm hoping for Oscar buzz for this film at the end of the year, but it's not likely that will happen though.

9/10. It's excellent.

The story of the child raised by pressure

[olcayozfirat · 7/10 · 24 September 2022]

A drama film based on a 2015 novel. It tells the story of a child who is brought up under pressure and coercion by disinterested parents. I've been a child, possibly rebellious, and as the pressure on him increases, he becomes more rebellious. Eventually this kid grows up and becomes a dictator. The child actor who plays the role really does justice to the role. The music used in the movie is beautiful. There is one final scene, which is incredible. It is exquisite with both the shooting style and the music. Although the movie is static, it is watched with interest.

There is no sex or nudity in the movie. However, it is a question that the child focuses on his chest, which is visible under the teacher's shirt while taking lessons, and the scene takes a little longer.

What did he say? Turn down the music!

[rodney-larios · 1/10 · 6 August 2016]

This movie might have been decent if I was able to actually decipher some of the dialogue. The French was not subtitled and it was spoken through at least half the movie. The English was whispered behind music that was entirely too loud. But what bothered me most is there was not enough "story". Why did he have mental health issues? His mother seemed to love him, he was cared for by people close to him. He was not poor or abused, give me something! There is not even enough for me to provide a decent speculation. I think it could have been so much better, as much as I wanted to like it, I did not. The music tried to make it more suspend up than it actually was. The people that say this was "art" are just lame and use that as an excuse to give it better reviews. This movie had no substance and no matter how you try and describe it, the fact of the matter is that it doesn't!

What a debut

[hendrix1978 · 9/10 · 21 August 2016]

Its clearly not for everyone, and yes there are some weaknesses during the movie but overall and incredible debut.

Ever saw a movie about a child who could possible be a future dictator like Hitler, Mussolini... ? how could his childhood looked like and how where his parents and his surrounding like ? well this movie gives you a idea of how it might have been.

the cinematography,camera work and acting are great and theatrical. but One of the most important things about the movie is the score by Scott Walker, which gives the movie a lot of tension and some sort of coolness.

Just be warned:Its a very slow and sometimes incomprehensible movie.

Enjoy !

strange film

[joclende · 6/10 · 2 September 2019]

A strange film. I really wanted to like it more than I did. I think a better delivery would have been to use flash backs, to develop more of a sense of how the childhood influenced the dictator. As it stood, the two time frames were isolated and it left me confused as to how one became the other. The score by Scott Walker is exemplary, though.

Uneventful

[caixote · 1/10 · 19 August 2016]

In 1939 Jean Paul Sartre wrote a short story named "Childhood of a Leader", that deals with identity, sexuality and its relation to fascism.

Corbet's "loose adaptation" of "Childhood of a Leader" is indeed very loose. All the Freudian and identity elements that formed the core of Sartre's short piece were discarded, and whatever was left ( not much ) was then watered down into a full feature film.

You can feel it throughout.

Photography and acting are really good. Had this been turned into short film instead, I'm sure my review would've been much different.

Really interesting

[Red_Identity · 24 July 2016]

There are many films that revolve around evil children and all of their misdeeds, including those who become murderers and killers. This one's different in that the film is telling you from the beginning (including with its title) who the child will go on to become, meaning it's not just an evil children horror film. The opening credits are a blast, mostly because of the loud, over-the- top, delightfully campy music. But it also kind of puts you in a mood for something that is more tongue-in-cheek, and I don't really think this film is. I think it's a good watch, and there's some great directing from Corbet (impressive that it's his first time) but there are also instances where I wish the film would have gone further. No doubt it's a good watch though, even if the last few minutes are disappointing.

Gripping but flawed

[grypnhmr · 7/10 · 19 August 2021]

This movie had my full attention. The last ten minutes, however, were a letdown. Those responsible for the script/direction did not make a strong case for the tyrant child, Prescott, evolving into a (presumably) despotic leader. The final part could also have benefited from a clearer expose of what kind of leader he had become (charismatic, apparently from the size of the crowd, but not much else). Also casting Robert Pattinson in the two roles---I wonder if anyone at the end said, "Wait, the reporter guy became a dictator? I thought the kid was supposed to." Though the ending was disappointing, I don't regret spending the two-hour viewing time.

Not a proper way to discuss Facism

[guisreis · 6/10 · 25 January 2023]

I like Liam Cunningham and Bérénice Bejo very much, and it is also necessary to say that cinematography and art direction are quite good in The Childhood of a Leader. However, all those qualities are not enough for delivering a good movie. It is definitely not. Not only because of its sluggish boring pace, with different events of varied interest that do not compose together a deep portrait. Perhaps, the very general idea is even worse than that. The script was supposedly adapted or inspired in a story by Sartre, which I have never read, and, then, I do not know if French thinker shared the filmmaker's sins. Anyway, the very idea that a fascist leader eventually follows his authoritarian steps due a permissive education and upper-class family dysfunctional relationship during his coming-of-age years is a bizarre, stupid and childish understanding. I could not understand if fictional Prescott - who director Brady Corbet clarified that was neitler Hitler nor Mussolini - became a Füher or duce in France, Hungary, the United States or anywhere else, and I believe that confusion is intentional, but I do know that fascism does not rise because there is an individual with Prescott's traits and that has been mistaken for a girl. Addressing psychologically fascism as consequence of a troubled mind of a leader is no more intelligent and mature than portraying Nazis as zombies, vampires os extraterrestrials, as mainsteam popcorn flicks often do. We know that Pattinson's character was anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic, but even his possible harmful personal influence over the kid does not appear in the film (differently from the boy's precocious sex drive towards Stacy Martin's character, for instance). Additionally, the general and widespread (not just circumscribed in the family's personal circle) jingoist and racist prejudice feeling in society - and the hatred for the humiliation of the Versailles Treaty - would have been focused on if it were a consistent film about Fascist genesis. To resume, the choice of a horror music score (composed by Scott Walker) does not contribute for acknowledging this movie's political seriousness either.

Tosh

[chris_joubert-62765 · 1/10 · 25 August 2016]

Pretentious tosh. The most disappointing film I have seen recently, having read the glowing reviews. How can I expand this succinct review to 10 lines? The music is bombastic, the length of the shots self-indulgent on the part of the editor/director, the psychology superficial: "abused child grows up to be a bastard". I have not read Sartre's original, but I doubt whether it was as vapid as this. Some of the supporting actors were good, but Liam Cunningham, in particular, looked very uncomfortable in his sketchy role. The Robert Pattinson character was particularly mystifying: who was he? What was he doing there? Why was the actor used to play the adult Prescott?

High art, impulsive, radical

[rebeccax5 · 8/10 · 27 July 2016]

The film is clearly influenced by some the greatest directors in terms of style. The music is almost old school experimental and very striking. The acting is excellent. The environment is extremely realistic. Remarkable achievement on a relatively low budget.

The story and plot is challenging and requires full concentration to see into it's message and meaning. It it also like watching part one of a trilogy,

There is lots of going up and down stairs in steady tracking shots that at times almost feel Escheristic.

The film will appeal to those who enjoy watching directors that attempt to paint on a cinematic canvas and who appreciate challenging films.

Manipulative and Second-Rate

[BNester · 2/10 · 17 July 2016]

The film begins with a musical score (by Scott Walker) which is too loud, manipulative, domineering, and pretentious. It takes itself very seriously indeed, but, when listened to closely, is second-rate.

The film imitates the music.

The story of Childhood of a Leader comprises scenes in the upbringing of Prescott, the rich, spoiled son of an influential American diplomat and his beautiful wife. The father is hammering out the details of what will become the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War, and set the stage for the Second. Neither parent has much time for Prescott, and he is raised by servants, who can be dismissed on a whim.

Prescott eventually grows up to be (here's the spoiler): a fascist leader.

The takes and the scenes go on for far too long, leading to boredom. But the director and writer, Brady Corbet, isn't interested in making a good movie. He wants to deliver a message, even if he has to hit you on the head with it. He wants you to know that there is no free will; that your attitudes and place in society are determined by your class and upbringing; that any child raised under these circumstances would turn out this way.

What he fails to notice is that nearly all upper-class children in pre-WWI times were raised like this. Yet somehow they did not all end up leading fascist coups.

Childhood of a Leader's only redeeming feature is the acting. It is excellent throughout, especially Liam Cunningham as the father, who expects his orders to be obeyed and his son to be disciplined. Cunningham is completely believable playing this unattractive character.

We shouldn't blame director Corbet for making such a second-rate film. Given his class and his upbringing, it was inevitable.

Curious and Captivating

[samkan · 10/10 · 15 February 2017]

A movie usually immediately tells you what it's about. Some prolong introduction. In my opinion, the longer a film can conceal it's motive -while simultaneously gluing your eyes to the screen and grabbing your attention by the throat- the better the film. TCOAL is a great film. Not a horror film as advertised. Not even a suspense film. Indeed, if the viewer were lucky enough to have had NO introduction to the film; e.g., via trailers, blurbs, reviews, etc., one would have no idea of TCOAL's intent until the very final scene. This appears to have frustrated, angered, etc., most of the COMMENTERs of this film. It stunned and enthralled me. You may never see another film like this one. I, for one, hope to.

Hmmm...

[fil-nik09 · 3/10 · 17 September 2016]

I had to read the other 16 reviews here before posting my own to see how my view of the film - which I just finished watching - compare to the others and ... Here are my thoughts

The child actor with a long blond hair that is reminiscent of Renoir's Coco portraits is brilliant. great acting for a 8,9 year old - or whatever his age is.

All other actors are really good too and they do convey the feeling it is 1918. I don't know where is this big old house - but somehow it does not fit into France. I would more think about the Balkans. But it is just a thought.

Were they really people with black hoods and capes and all at funerals at that time? It is a rather strange and completely unnecessary scene in the film, though kinda effective.

I really liked the mood of the film and I can appreciate the art vision of it. However, the film is too long and most of the time boring. I love French and I was forcing myself to make that as a plus point, but...

The best thing about this film is music!

But somehow its dramatic score and almost banging at the window tone is totally opposite to the calm and slow narative. That music would be better for horror films.

All in all, I would not really recommend this film to anyone as I think it is too boring. And plus the ending totally makes no sense to me.

Pretentious and silly

[rhoda-9 · 3/10 · 7 September 2016]

You're led to expect something really powerful and frightening by the opening shots of World War I and a nerve-jangling, portentous score. And, indeed, your expectations are well rewarded when the child of the title...wets his bed! plays an angel in the church Christmas play!

It's hardly a bold or singular premise that a disturbed childhood will create a damaged, perhaps dangerous adult. But the movie's portrayal of cause and effect is so simplified as to be ridiculous. Plenty of neglected children--the condition is hardly the rarity the filmmakers seem to think, especially among wealthy people 100 years ago--grow up to be normal adults. Some become nasty ones. Some, in reaction, become humanitarians. If the cause and effect are so cut and dried, why don't we have 50 million fascist dictators? Could it be because a great many emotional and intellectual attributes, a great many factors of class and opportunity and geography and history are necessary for someone to become a fascist dictator? An unhappy childhood is hardly the only qualification!

The script and director also ignore the most basic rules of portraying an unhappy childhood, rules that have been followed by every writer and director of merit. First: If you cry, they won't. Kipling, Graham Greene, Henry James, Dickens--everyone who has done this well has shown the mistreated child suffering in silence or near-silence, so that the reader or film-goer supplies the emotions of sadness and anger and indignation. In this film, however, the child is constantly outraged, insolent, aggressive, at times violent, so he pre-empts all our emotions. It is hard not to regard him as simply a nuisance and a bore. Second, feeling sorry for a character is not enough to make us like him or even be interested in him. The boy is front and center in almost the entire film. But he never does or says anything interesting, charming, sweet, selfless, funny, quirky. All he does is throw tantrums. Kids like this are one of the things I go to the movies to get away from!

Corbet shows promise as a much-needed new darling of American filmmakers

[Stay_away_from_the_Metropol · 8/10 · 2 November 2018]

Well, it took about 2 years but I finally got around to watching this. The trailer was hands down my favorite of 2016. The fierce Scott Walker composition cut to all the stunning shots hooked me hard, and induced goosebumps every time I watched it.

Let me say right off the bat that it is quite an odd film in the sense that it truly feels like an incredible pilot episode for a series, all building towards something that feels monstrous, but just as you reach that point, the movie is over. While this element is probably not for everyone, I was cracking up in supportive amusement during the closing sequence - I personally admired it's absence of a common folk sort of finale.

Setting that oddity aside, which could be considered a pretty major flaw in some people's eyes, everything about this film is masterfully done... the whole cast kills. This was my intro to Berenice Bejo and she made a MARK! Simultaneously beautiful and elegant, and then, at turn of a hat, heinous and witchlike. Liam Cunningham is as strong and actor as possible, shown here through stoicism with an underlying weasliness to his character. Stacy Martin is intoxicating and graceful as usual and young TOM SWEET steals the show, flawlessly delivering as a child imprisoned in the confines of his own royal sort of upbringing. Every motion, every murmur that he delivers hits right on the mark.

The film is absolutely gorgeous too. It's shot and directed beautifully in a very disciplined manner, and I'd use the same adjectives for the pacing. All the wardrobe, styling, and environments are tastefully chosen and displayed. And, of course, the frickin' legend SCOTT WALKER's score is intense and awesome - I wish there was more of his abrasive orchestral cuts but the film doesn't really call for it outside of the opening and the finale - I'll take what I can get.

All I can say is after viewing this and based off of what I can tell so far about Corbet's upcoming second film, VOX LUX, he could very well be one of the new darlings of American filmmakers! Childhood of a Leader comes off as a huge risk to make in this era but he made it happen and I see it as a very ballsy move for a debut. Can't wait to see Corbet's second film VOX LUX starring Natalie Portman and Jude Law in theaters this December - I think he has a masterful catalogue in him waiting to be unleashed!

waste of time and money

[plocploc · 2/10 · 30 August 2016]

Not convinced by the movie. Some here say that the photography is good: I'd say that it's overly sombre, giving a sense of foreboding that never get realised. The place of the action is unrealistically shabby, which gets out of place with the proposed occupation of the father, and speaks of a miserable childhood, where it seems the realisator wanted to show a born psychopath revealing himself. This part is the most perturbing of all: I may be influenced by my readings, but it seems to me that either this child is not beaten up enough (to become an actual psychopath) or the realisator still thinks that babies are born dictators.... which is against all scientific knowledge on actual childhoods of actual dictators, including GW Bush.

The movie is heavily alluding to the rise of a famous early XXth century German leader, but lacks realism if this is the actual model: A. Hitler has been considerably beaten up, living with a mother who had to get over various infant deaths (alluded in the film with the scene of the bed and missed love)without support, while his father had a much more violent attitude towards him and cultivated the secret and shame upon his origins.

The movie describes uncaring parents, without ever getting in line with what we know of the infancies of, say, Staline or Sadam Hussein or said German leader, without even getting close to what educative violence was in those years post WWI in Europe (or sadly still is sometimes in the US). Some side plots are not used to their full extent (the dismissal of the carer, the would-be affair between the father and the repetitor), the relationship between mother and son is only rougly drafted, but never gets to its full extent (eg: a sick sensual relationship is half suggested between the mother and the son, by his girl attire-also an allusion to a famous Hitler picture?-, or his mother exclusive attention), The sexual repression of young Prescott could have been exploited more -didn't 19th century Americans widely used circumcision as a way to make sex hurtful?- the young Prescott relations -or lack thereof- with the other village kids could have been used)

As it is, the movie goes along the line: "young kid feels alone, gets trashed once, gets sexually aroused by his repetitor, who scolds him, hits his mother and becomes sadistic leader. This may seems a bit lame for anyone with a superficial knowledge of European history (Europe, land of horror stories)