Au royaume des cieux

The tone is set in the opening credits, in which the film is dedicated to “unhappy youth” to the accompaniment of church bells, which allude to the heaven of the title on the one hand but are also, quite prosaically, the bells of a reform school to which the 18-year-old orphan Maria (Anne Saint-Jean) has just been admitted. The kind-hearted matron dies during the admission process and is replaced by the sadistic Mademoiselle Chamblas (Suzy Prim). From then on, ruthless severity, humiliation and draconian punishments are the order of the day. Maria’s only consolation is to wait for her lover Pierre (Serge Reggiani) who has figured out where she is. The film is littered with Christian symbolism – from the name of the main character to the torrential floods that finally allow her and Pierre to escape during a Christmas service – and the chastisement rituals of poisonous pedagogy. It is a thoroughly unforgiving look at post-war French society. (re/fl)