When the young boy Cyril (Thomas Doret) stabs his foster mother Samantha (Cecile De France) in the arm and escapes from her home, it is one of the only times we see “The Kid With a Bike” from her perspective. For the first time, we realize how much she loves Cyril and how much she struggles to control him. Like any kid, neither he nor us can know how deeply a parent’s love goes. For that matter, we never fully know how much Cyril loves his absentee father or his bike that takes him wherever he needs to go.
“The Kid With a Bike” is a lovely film about attachments and the complex emotions that go along with them. It’s one of the best movies of the year.
It begins a month after Cyril’s father Guy (Jeremie Renier) abandons him at an orphanage. For weeks now, Cyril has been desperately calling his home and getting only a disconnected line. He blindly believes his father is still there. His father would never leave him, and more importantly, he would never forget to give Cyril his bike. Cyril evades his supervisors and his teachers to see his house for himself, and we realize instantly that Cyril is a smart, energetic kid with a relentless, unhealthy obsession. Continue reading “The Kid With a Bike”