Synopsis
The chilling story of a young American boy living in France in 1918 whose father is working for the US government on the creation of the Treaty of Versailles. What he witnesses helps to mold his beliefs – and we witness the birth of a terrifying ego.
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Cast
- Bérénice BejoThe Mother
- Liam CunninghamThe Father
- Robert PattinsonCharles Marker / The Leader
- Stacy MartinThe Teacher
- Yolande MoreauThe Maid
- Sophie Lane CurtisLaura
- Rebecca DayanEdith
- Caroline BoultonMr. Advisors Secretary
- Tom SweetPrescott, the Boy
- Roderick HillOlder American Gentleman
Recommendations
- 100
CineVue
The Childhood of a Leader is a dark, enigmatic piece of work that hovers between visionary greatness and petty domestic triviality. Corbet's inaugural stint behind the camera marks a stunning debut. - 90
Screen Daily
The Childhood Of A Leader is as relentlessly sombre and compelling as the film’s remarkable, full-volume orchestral soundtrack by musician’s musician Scott Walker. - 83
IndieWire
With his unusually accomplished directorial debut Childhood of a Leader, Corbet delivers a strange and startling film that reflects the unique trajectory of his career, as well as the influence of the iconoclastic directors with whom he’s already worked. - 70
The New York Times
It’s a persuasive portrait of a monster-to-be, one etched in thrown tantrums and rocks, and heavily supported by an excellent cast that includes Robert Pattinson and Yolande Moreau as well as a driving score that occasionally threatens to upstage the movie. - 63
Observer
A debut feature by American writer-actor Brady Corbet, the film is sketchy, confused and too self-consciously aimed at arthouse audiences to thrive commercially, but it has a chilling impact. - 63
New York Post
It’s an ambitious, often arresting film, but it lacks cohesion, and the seesawing plot and motivations seem more indecisive than mysterious. - 58
The Playlist
Alternating immense bombast with long stretches of longueur in its psychologically questionable evocation of the formative years of a future despot, the film is formally confident, stylistically inventive and intensely irritating. - 50
Variety
A overweening, maddening but not inconsiderable directorial debut for actor Brady Corbet
