A film I'd heard nothing about and never would have watched if i hadn't been on an Alain Delon completionist drive but it's a little gem. It's based on an American novel about a group of siblings who watch too much TV and whose parents have left them under the supervision of a slack nanny. The kids want to be left alone... they put the sleeping nanny on an air matress and shove her out to the water as a joke, but she can't swim so she drowns. They decide not to mention it to anyone so they can live their lives as they want - smoke, eat whatever they want, watch whatever they want.
It's kind of Lord of the Flies slash High Wind in Jamaica stuff - the kids are presented matter of fact as lacking morals. They swear, they snap, they have low cunning.
There are four of them - the ringleader girl, who is 13, the oldest - a skinny brother and a fat brother with glasses who reminded me of Piggy in Lord of the Flies and a five year old. The fact the kids are so genuinely young really lifts this. The actors are excellent too - the director did a superb job of casting and handling them. They seem like real kids.
The plot comes from Alain Delon watching what happened then moving in. It takes him 50 minutes to do this, which is a worry - as the nanny dies 15 minutes in. I think they would have been better truncating this bit because although it's full of great moments (them going shopping, covering up) it tends to hit the same beat. But when Delon turns up that's fixed - he's very good too by the way, playing a bit more of a character type, swigging alcohol and looking shady.
The film commits to the end - Delon manipulates the kids, or tries to... then they decide to kill him... and do it! And cover it up! And get away with it!
It's a very good movie. Nice locations - some beach town. The kids are brilliant. Sophie Renoir is a standout as the leader but they're all good. I can't believe it flopped. Maybe it was too bleak.
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