MOVIE REVIEW

A mother and children fleeing war-torn Paris find a safe haven, an unlikely guide and a chance to transform their lives in Téchiné's film.

By Kevin Thomas, Times Staff Writer

André Téchiné's "Strayed," a film of understated, cumulative power, opens with a familiar image, that of Parisians in June 1940 fleeing the imminent arrival of the Germans, jamming the roads heading south. In a small car on a virtually gridlocked road are a beautiful young widow, Odile (Emmanuelle Béart), who lost her husband early in the war, and her two children, Philippe (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet), 13, and Cathy (Clémence Meyer), 7.

All of a sudden, the refugees are strafed repeatedly by German bombers. As their car burns, Odile and her children flee into the woods, where they encounter an intense but assured 17-year-old, Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel). There is a feral quality to the taciturn, wiry Yvan that is unsettling, but he has the instincts and skills of a survivalist, which Philippe is far quicker to grasp than his mother, who remains reluctant to yield her authority to the youth. Despite the edginess between them, they and the children eventually find sanctuary in a large 19th century villa on a hillside in a clearing in the forest, accessible only by a dirt road.

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As understandably distraught and exhausted as Odile is, she soon sets about trying to create a semblance of normal life for her children as Yvan catches fish, chickens and rabbits to put food on their table. Yvan is an endlessly resourceful and highly effective protector for Odile and her children. However, as the group waits for the declaration of armistice, tensions build between Odile and Yvan. She is a determined upholder of the values of civilization while Yvan, who has no social graces whatsoever, resists her at every turn. In time, Odile, a schoolteacher, discovers that Yvan cannot read and sets about instructing him. A civilizing process begins, and with it a turning point in their relationship.

Even though these four are out of range of the sights and sounds of war, it is always present in the uncertainty of their situation.

Although it is impossible to predict how "Strayed," based on Gilles Perrault's novel "Le Garçon aux Yeux Gris," will play out, it is not surprising that the director of "Wild Reeds" and more than a dozen other important films would devise a finish in which irony compounds irony.

What makes this film special, as in his other films, is the getting there. Téchiné is the master of subtle shifts in mood, an acute delineator of psychological interplay, and therefore demands the utmost of his actors. In a most natural way, Ulliel expresses the hesitant transformation of Yvan, and Leprince-Ringuet captures the perceptiveness of Philippe, who realizes early on that he's going to have to grow up very fast. Only Meyer's buoyant Cathy retains a child's relative innocence.

One of the most accomplished of French actresses since her debut in Claude Berri's memorable 1986 "Manon of the Spring," Béart is remarkable in her underplayed portrayal of a poised bourgeoise who is called on to discover inner strength that in normal times might have never needed to be tapped. "Strayed" glows from deep within the inner resources of Emmanuelle Béart.

'Strayed'

MPAA rating: Unrated

Times guidelines: Wartime violence, sexuality and nudity, complex adult themes; too intense for children.

Emmanuelle Béart...Odile

Gaspard Ulliel...Yvan

Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet...Philippe

Clémence Meyer...Cathy

Jean Fornerod...Georges

Samuel Laberthe...Robert

A Wellspring release. Director André Téchiné. Producer Jean-Pierre Ramsay Levi. Screenplay Gilles Taurand, Téchiné; from the novel "Le Garçon aux Yeux Gris" by Gilles Perrault. Cinematographer Agnès Godard. Editor Martine Marine Giordano. Costumes Christian Gasc. Art director Zé Branco. In French with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.