Just above Albertville in the Savoie region, sits the “correctional” facility of La Belle Étoile run by the abbot Garin. Wards of the Nation, orphans and children of the DDASS (the former French social services), Dédé, Michel and Daniel lived there as children in the 60s and 70s, and were beaten, humiliated, shamed and broken. Almost 60 years later, these three men are just a few of the many who bear the indelible scars of their time in this place of terror, ruled by the iron fist of Abbé Garin. With the help of director Clémence Davigo, they finally reunite to break their silence in the idyllic surroundings of the Savoie mountains. In a house overlooking the distant peak on which the Belle Étoile sits – a nightmarish vision for the former boarders – the last surviving “bastards” begin to speak of their ordeal, as they attempt to break the still-powerful law of silence of the Catholic Church. Together, they try to find the words to describe the violence they endured, seeking acknowledgement from wilfully deaf religious authorities. A heartrending chronicle in
search of memory and justice.

-- Dir. Clémence Davigo - 106min - 2023 - France --

"Great courage, physical and moral, is shown by the three principal interviewees in this heartbreaking French documentary.....participates intimately in the healing process by giving these men the platform to tell their truths – and is no less valuable for it." - Guardian

"The intimacy and empathy with which Davigo treats her protagonists lead to some meticulous characterisation, helping the viewer not only perceive them as they are today, but also imagine what they were like as boys" - Cineuropa

"An important film: there are no other words to describe The Lost Boys of Mercury...huge care in the images and music" - Variety

"A heartrending chronicle in search of memory and justice" - Visions du Reel

"With great caution, director Clémence Davigo allows the three to tell their stories...Even when the three men are silent, the camera records their grief, anger and despair" - IDFA