Goodbye, Cruel World

After skipping school and setting his pet rodent free in the woods outside his town of Lisieux, Normandy, Otto jumps from a high bridge into the river below. The backpack that was presumably meant to help him drown is quickly separated from him, and instead of continuing with his death wish, the poor, drenched lad gets back up at the rocky shore, contemplating his next move.

While walking her dog, Lena spots Otto on one of his nightly bin raids for food, tracking him to the abandoned house with barely working facilities. This friendship between two lonely youngsters gradually blossoms into a romance; their plan to hide out inevitably turns into one in which they both escape across the country, never revealing the truth behind Otto’s disappearance.

Goodbye Cruel World is a remarkably assured debut feature overall, ending on an especially beautiful note both visually and aurally — composer Arnaud Toulo’s melodies are a consistent highlight of the film’s texture. Director Felix de Givry shows great promise as a maker of intimate, humanist works, where troubled souls are swept along by the currents of time as they try to make sense of themselves and their world.

– Josh Slater-Williams, IndieWire