A Jekyll-and-Hyde colonel toughens up a 17-year-old aristocrat for the Spanish Civil War.
Acting
Trintignant's icy manipulation is masterclass villainy.
Direction
Boutron traps you in Rafael's suffocating transformation.
Director
Pierre Boutron
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Boutron adapted this from his own novel, drawing on his father's fascist sympathies—a rare case of an artist dissecting family sin on screen.
Grégoire Colin was actually 17 during filming, making Rafael's age-authentic vulnerability terrifyingly real.