Joseph(Vincent Rottiers) is constantly running away from one children's home to the next with his non verbal, autistic sister, Chloe(Adele Haenel) who cannot stand to be touched by anyone. Only her brother is able to reach her, and she follows him as would a trained dog. With every escape the pair search for their childhood house, with false memories of a normal home life. They were actually abandoned by their mother at an early age. The two are caught once again and Chloe begins to improve with the help of a caring worker at the facility they are living at. Joseph resents the fact that his sister no longer needs him and becomes a thief and hooks up with Karim, another troubled boy. The three children make another getaway and find a house Chloe believes is their childhood residence. They rob the place and Joey burns it down, leading to more problems with the law, which are dealt with in an interesting manner. Les Diables is depressing but very realistic, and the two leads are extremely talented. They alone, are worth the price of admission.

Chanced across this movie on the ever-reliable SBS television network tonight, and got hooked very quickly.After the "prison break-out" scenes at two-thirds of the way through I honestly thought that this movie should end. In fact I started to get annoyed with it at that point, but the relationship between the two leads was in fact extended in a completely different direction and the conclusion - that you only "have to sit down and push with your own two feet" - was well worth what seemed like a lengthy epilogue.In fact for me it was really the performances of the two leads that made this movie special. It's great to see such convincing performances from such young actors. It's certainly no Rain Man - thankfully. Joseph is particularly powerful as the Tom Cruise equivalent in the lengths that he goes to defend his "sister" - to the point of losing his own sanity. It's also no Shine - Chloe's almost wordless performance is really quite convincing without any of the effort that Geoffrey Rush had to make. I just hope she doesn't get type-cast.For the record, I don't think it's ever made clear that there is any direct family relationship between them, and in fact Chloe continues to seek her true "home" with Joseph's assistance - while he rejects his own.And ultimately it thereby becomes a story about family. Joseph rejects his true "family" when it is found, perhaps because he isn't satisfied that Chloe has found hers. When she wanders into her final ideal home and and hugs her final ideal parents (who Joseph holds at knife-point) it really gets rammed home that the only family they've ever had is each other.Sniff.Of course if you don't understand French and have to read the subtitles it's probably only a 7.5. And then I could spin a few more paragraphs about the story this tells about how we treat our children. But I won't.And having said ALL of that I do have some issues with some of the nudity in this movie. Having grown up in France I understand that it's "purely artistic" but I'm not sure that those standards apply in other countries.

Sometimes I wonder where people come up with these superlatives; every movie is the worst or the best, etc. And often one person like Karl, is saying this is the WORST, while someone else is trying to say this is the BEST, about the very same movie. Its a silly kid's game like who's the prettiest???Okay, I'm not going to say this is the best, =) but;It is a very interesting movie, it communicates some very complex ideas and does it in a way that is aesthetically well done. Karl says the movie has an overload of clichés, and lists murder, arson and incest.First of all, murder and arson do actually occur on a fairly regular schedule on this planet, these acts themselves are something of a cliché, but;This movie outlines an intense angst in the hearts and minds of these two kids, and the arson is actually a fairly mild reaction to that frustration. I really argue intensely with Karl's assertion that these themes are portrayed in a manner that is a cliché. I think the incidents are quite surprising in their context in the film, and therefore, not possibly clichés.Secondly, there is no incest,,, one central point of the film is that Joseph believes Chloe to be his sister, but even though he is told otherwise, still wrestles with his intense feelings for her. The love for her that he has developed, thinking of her as a sister, can't be erased by learning the fact that she is not.I agree with Karl that the acting of the boy playing Joseph is remarkably perfect, but the Adele Haenel's performance is even more astounding to me. Her character is spell binding. All in all, I have watched this movie at least 50 times, (I work in a situation where I repeatedly have the opportunity to get caught up in it) and every time I've seen it, I find something new from it. When I was in film criticism classes, I was taught that the basic purpose of a film is to communicate ideas, and do so in a way that is unusual enough to interest and entertain the viewer. This film does that well, so I rated it at an 8. Its not the best, but it's light years away from being the worst. Films aren't a contest Karl, the good ones are works of art to be appreciated by someone who takes the time to do so.

I had a strange impression leaving the theater after "Les diables". I needed some hours to get back to reality. In some movies, you really have to convince yourself that the actors are really comedians, because they play in an amazing way. This movie tell us about a little 12 years old boy, Joseph, who's trying to reach his parents' house with his autist sister, Chloe. Both are orpheans and Joseph is the only one who's able to manage his sister. They don't know where the house exactly is, but Chloe often makes a glass-mosaic representing the building. They will follow their path, purchased by cops and educating staff of different institutions. I have to say that the rythme of the movie, the quality of the screenplay and, of course, the interpretation are all great, and left me the impression that, sometime, beauty is much more simple as what we believe. A great and sober love movie, hope everybody will have the opportunity to see it.