Unlike many portrayals of first love, this film attempts an unromanticised and detached examination of an immature schoolboy’s newfound sexuality. Delighting in his sexual awakening but unable to cope emotionally, the boy leads himself and others towards tragedy. Writer-director Scott Murray transported Raymond Radiguet’s famous French novel to the Australian environment of the early 1940s.
Director: Scott Murray. AKA Beyond Innocence.
Writers: Raymond Radiguet (novel), Scott Murray.
Stars: Katia Caballero, Keith Smith, John Morris, Jill Forster, Colin Duckworth, Reine Lavoie, Jeremy Johnson, Odile Le Clezio, Stephan Tailly, Eldon Hogan, John Murphy, Jock MacRae, John Walker, Charles Dance, Alan Farquhar, Peter Cummins, Alisa Meadows, Tom Ross, Kati Edwards, Jack Paynting, Juliana Krygger, Milton Holden, Louise Elvin, Ed Turley, John Belfrage, Armando Cesari, Stephen Colombo, Constantino Filipatos, Len Lamont, Mario Panone, Morton Tangey, Peter Craig, Robyn Gibbes, Richard Butler, Amanda Cooke, Luciano Martucci, Benjamin Molina.
While I haven’t seen the French film from the late 1940s, this is an interesting comparison with the 1986 Marco Bellocchio adaptation of the same book. Thanks, Jon.