Small Change

The film depicts several weeks in the lives of school-aged children and their parents in Thiers, France - an impoverished student joins the class; two brothers try to scrape a few francs; a handsome orphan falls for his neighbor; a teacher and his wife prepare for parenthood. Through these and other images, Truffaut's gift of capturing life and childhood - in the same fusion of innocence and cruelty that made him an exceptional filmmaker - become clear. Small Change is a tremendous film where, with sympathy, sorrow, and understanding, life bursts from the screen and touches the heart.