Au royaume des cieux (1949) - film review

Flanked by policemen, Maria Lambert, a 17-year-old orphan, arrives at Haute-Mère, a secure educational establishment located in an austere region of France that is at risk of flooding.  The woman who runs the centre, Madame Bardin, learns that, before coming here, Maria was in the care of various families who abused and exploited her - not an unusual occurrence.   A short while later, Madame Bardin dies and is replaced by Mademoiselle Chamblas, a sour old maid who believes that adolescents should have rebelliousness thrashed out of them.  When Chamblas learns that Marie has fallen in love with a Parisian electrician, she is incensed and immediately locks her up in the punishment cell.  Once she has been released from the cell, Maria tells her story to the other girls and assures them that Pierre will soon find a way to get her out of the centre.  Help is nearer than Maria knows.  Mademoiselle Chamblas’s reign of terror is about to come to a dramatic end...
© Willems Henri (Brussels, Belgium)

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