THE TWO OF US: A Surprisingly Heartwarming Depiction Of Childhood During Wartime

To mark the 50th anniversary of The Two of Us, director Claude Berri’s acclaimed portrait of a Jewish boy’s unlikely friendship with an elderly curmudgeon during World War II, the Cohen Media Group has prepared a lovely 4K restoration of the film for release on Blu-ray.

There are no epic battle scenes, infamous political leaders giving speeches, or any of the other usual trappings of a big war movie to be found in The Two of Us. Instead, Berri treats audiences to an intimate drama about how even the loneliest, stubbornest people can overcome their perceived differences to become great friends.

Wartime Refugee

Claude (Alain Cohen) is an eight-year-old Jewish boy growing up in Paris during World War II. Like many young boys, he often gets into mischief, whether it be shoplifting, smoking in outhouses or getting into fights after school. But unlike other boys, his seemingly harmless actions could have dangerous consequences for his parents, who must stay under the radar of the authorities or risk being arrested. Eventually, Claude’s parents decide to send him to stay with their neighbor’s elderly parents in the countryside for his own safety and theirs.

Claude is given a new last name and told to memorize the Lord’s Prayer so that he will blend in with the Catholics around him; above all, he must not reveal that he is Jewish to anyone, not even his new guardians. In fact, it turns out that the neighbor’s father, Pepe (Michel Simon) is an outspoken anti-Semite who isn’t shy about expressing his prejudiced beliefs, his dislike for the French Resistance, and his admiration for the controversial French puppet leader at the time. Yet beneath all his bluster, Pepe does have a big heart, and he eventually embraces Claude as though he were his own grandson.

Because of his beliefs, Pepe feels that he has no one else to talk to except Claude, who ironically is a member of the very group of people Pepe is railing against. In one particularly poignant scene, Pepe describes what he believes are the identifying characteristics of Jews to Claude; hooked noses, big ears, curly hair. Upon having this evidence recited to him, Claude grows terrified that he is identifiable as a Jew and must be comforted by Pepe in his hysteria.

Yet moments later, Claude points out to Pepe that this must mean Pepe is also Jewish – after all, he too has a hooked nose, big ears, and curly hair. After Claude flees the room, the old man examines himself in the mirror, unable to reconcile his own appearance with what he has just told Claude. It’s both an incredibly funny moment as well as a pointed reminder that those we think are different from us are actually more similar than we might think.

Friendship Across Boundaries

Films focused on depicting events through a child’s eyes risk being incredibly irritating. The Florida Project is the most recent example of a film that avoided this tragic fate by casting children who were charming and precocious without being annoying smart-alecks; the misadventures of these rambunctious youngsters felt realistic and reminiscent of one’s own childhood.

The Two of Us also succeeds on this front thanks to the pitch-perfect casting of Alain Cohen as Claude. Cohen is one of those child actors who never feels as though he is acting; his slightly mournful face gives his performance a natural gravitas that provides a nice counterbalance to his more mischievous (and potentially irritating — at least if you have my nonexistent tolerance of children’s behavior) moments.

The character of Pepe, an avowed antisemite and cranky old man, also has the potential for being too obnoxious for audiences to be invested in. After all, he has no qualms about spewing horrifyingly bigoted things, such as telling Claude that all Jews have large hooked noses so that they can sniff out money. Pepe’s portrayer, the great Michel Simon, does not make these upsetting pronouncements any more palatable, but he does allow us to understand how a man like Pepe, someone so fond of animals that he refuses to eat the rabbits his wife cooks for dinner and spoon-feeds his beloved old dog breakfast in bed, ended up this way. How could Pepe, who seems to care so much for other living things, honestly believe that Jews are his enemy?

Now, The Two of Us doesn’t excuse Pepe’s beliefs; in fact, even the other characters within the film refuse to let his hatred go by unnoticed. An early scene in which the village pastor gives a sermon encouraging the congregation to embrace and protect the minorities among them, pointedly looking at Pepe as he does so, is a particular standout. But what the film does do is show us how seemingly average people like Pepe develop this toxic mindset; in his case, this is a combination of being uneducated, having lived his entire life in the countryside where he has probably never actually laid eyes on a Jewish person, and getting all of his politics straight from a propaganda radio station.

It also shows us how people with Pepe’s beliefs are often more multifaceted than they may appear on the surface, something that we gradually see of the course of The Two of Us as Pepe develops great tenderness towards Claude. Above all, Berri reminds us that our prejudices are rooted not in any concrete reality, but in what we do not know and so do not understand.

The relationship that evolves between Claude and Pepe, two lonely and isolated figures, albeit for very different reasons, who find solace in each other’s company, is incredibly heartwarming and surprisingly believable thanks to Cohen and Simon’s easy chemistry. Berri based The Two of Us on his own childhood experiences as a Jewish refugee housed with a Gentile family in the countryside during the war, which explains why his characters feel so authentic even in (or perhaps because of) their various contradictions. By the time the film ends, one will feel as though one has a greater understanding of the subtleties of the human spirit.

The Two Of Us: Conclusion

A deeply personal drama set during one of the greatest conflicts of our time, The Two of Us provides us with an unusual look at World War II through the eyes of a child — someone who cannot wrap his mind around the enormity of what the war means for himself, his family, and others like him. Refreshingly free of bloodshed and bombast, Berri’s film proves that you don’t need to depict the visceral horrors of World War II onscreen to drive home the lasting impact it had on everyday people.

What do you think? Does The Two of Us sound like a refreshingly unique look at a war that has been depicted on film so many times? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The 4K restoration of The Two of Us is now available on Blu-ray.