Product Description

Breakin’ Out follows the story of a young teen Nicholas whose parents traffic in narcotics. When a run-in with the police ends in a car crash, Nicholas’s dad dies, and his mother is taken in chains to prison. Placed in foster care, Nicholas has problems adjusting, but makes friends with his foster sister, Elodie’s, boyfriend. The two boys, along with Elodie, invent a madcap scheme to spring Nicholas’s mom from jail, involving a faked death, stolen firearms, and a run for the border

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19499 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-05-31
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Customer Reviews

Filial Love and Adolescent Obsession
'Grosse bêtise' or BREAKIN' OUT is another example of how well French films deal with intimate subjects, taking the time to explore emotional attitudes that so often are ignored by Hollywood films. In this case the extent that true filial love can lead to dangerous consequences is played out in a story that is well written (Stanislas Carré de Malberg and Pascal Dupont), well directed (Olivier Péray), and well acted by a fine cast.

Nicolas Guérin (Erwan Demaure) is 13-year-old happy son of Laetitia (Isabelle Habiague) and Thierry Guérin who make their living selling drugs. In the first moments of the film the mother and father are in a car accident, killing the father and resulting in the arrest and imprisonment of the mother for drug trafficking. Nicolas is devastated and immediately begins to think of ways to restore his mother. He is placed in a warm and loving foster home of the Delmas (Christian Crahay and Nathalie Willame) and their adolescent daughter Elodie (Stéphane Caillard). He is treated well until he enters school where he encounters pier mocking about his mother being a jailbird. One young friend Tanker (Ouassini Embarek), whose own father in jailed for a history of being a gangster, befriends him and quickly becomes a caring confidant and facilitator.

The two lads form a warm friendship and begin to devise ways for Nicolas' mother's escape. Eventually Elodie becomes involved and the three plan a fake funeral for Nicolas because that is the only way his mother could be temporarily released from prison - to attend her son's funeral! The plans are complex and the results of the scheme are driven to the extreme with a surprise ending that involves a fruitless run for the border. The manner in which filial devotion affects each of the film's characters draws some touching conclusions.

Though the film at first appears to condone some anti-social behavior, the sensitivity of the director keeps realistic reins on the story. In the end this is a fine little film about family and friendship and the benefits and obligations of both. Grady Harp, June 05

An Intimate Story
"Breakin' Out"

An Intimate Story

Amos Lassen

Picture This Entertainment brings us a well-acted and intimate French film on DVD with "Breakin' Out". It is the story of Nicholas, an intelligent, happy and hopeful youth with parents who love him a great deal. Yet, his parents, Thierry and Laetitia are drug dealers. Thierry was suddenly killed in an automobile accident while being pursued by the police and Laetitia was arrested. At his father's funeral Nicholas watches as his mother is taken to prison.
Child Services places Nicholas in foster care with two loving people, Bernard and Eliane Delmas and they do all they can to make Nicholas happy but he is depressed over the loss of his dad and his mother's upcoming trial. Elodie, the daughter in his foster home does not welcome Nicholas and her boyfriend, Merignac, teases him about his mother's fate.
Nicholas finally finds a friend in Tanker whose father is in the same prison as his mother and helps him find legal ways to help his mother but also tells him that the prospect for Laetitia to get out of jail are not good. Nicholas then hatches a plot to free his mother. We see how love for one's parent can cause very dangerous results. When Nicholas stages his own fake funeral as a way to get his mother out, we see how strong his devotion to his mother is. Oliver Percy directed this small film which shows us how friendship and family affect our lives.