Remi, Nobody's Boy
Short description
Rémi is a young orphan taken in by the kind Madame Barberin, but at the age of ten he is separated from her and placed in the care of Signor Vitalis, a travelling musician who makes his living on the road. Under this stern new guardian, Rémi learns the hard routines of acrobatics and street performance, singing for his keep as the pair move through France. Their journey is shared with Capi, a loyal dog, and Joli-Coeur, a small monkey, and it brings a series of encounters and friendships that gradually lead Rémi toward the secret of where he comes from.
The film is directed by Antoine Blossier and adapted from the well-known French children's novel about the boy with no family. It was released in December 2018 and runs 109 minutes. Maleaume Paquin plays the title role, with Daniel Auteuil as Vitalis, Ludivine Sagnier as Madame Barberin, Virginie Ledoyen as Madame Harper, Jonathan Zaccaï as Jérôme Barberin, and Jacques Perrin as the elderly Rémi. The credited cast numbers 32. The film is Blossier's first directed feature in the listed order, ahead of K.O. (2025).
Made in Belgium and France by TF1, TF1 Films Production, Ciné+ and TF1 Studio, with Philippe Rousselet and Eric Jehelmann producing, the film took about 7 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.1/10 from around 3,500 votes, while on TMDB it rates 7.9/10 from 477 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- A screen adaptation of the work by Hector Malot (1830-1907), first published in 1878. The two-volume novel has been adapted for the screen many times. For example, one can recall the film 'No Family' (1934) by Marc Allégret (1900-1973), a film of the same name (1958) by André Michel (1910-1989), as well as a Japanese animated television series (51 episodes of 24 minutes each), first shown in France in 1982.
- The plot is based on the adaptation of the work “Without a Family” (1878), written in the genre of a soap opera, unfolds over four years. Director Antoine Blossier could not fit all of this into the film, so he shortened the story to one year and placed all the events into three acts.
- It took 3 days of studio work to film the storm scene in England.
- Malom Pakuin, who played Remy as a child, was the 15th child that director Antoine Blossier auditioned. Before casting him in the role, Blossier viewed nearly 400 boys.
- The dog named Kapi is a real circus dog. It genuinely performs the tricks that viewers see in the film.
- During preparation for filming, it turned out that the most difficult scenes for Malom Pakuin were those where his character cries.
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