Martin and Simon Vanderhoes are more than street-wise brats; they are a real terror to their surroundings. The criminal siblings cannot be tamed by anyone, certainly not by their father, nor by the army of social workers and policemen that pursues them. On their way, Martin and Simon leave a trail of destruction behind them, yet in their own clumsy way they are looking for some affection: their long-lost mother.Le fils du requin is the feature-film début of a young French film-maker who skilfully dares to juxtapose the poetic with the raw realistic in a children’s film for adults. Agnès Merlet primarily made optimal use of the visual power of the location, a grey port in Northern France. This contrasts starkly with the dreamy underwater shots referring to what goes on beneath the boys’ rough exterior. And the amazing acting of the very young actors contributes to the film’s potency.Merlet based the film on a true story she read in 1987 among the faits divers in the newspaper. Two boys had turned into the terror of their home town after their mother had left them. Merlet then carried out her own investigation into events and talked to many people from the boys’ surroundings to develop her story. The film is however far from being a precise and realistic reconstruction; in portraying the real story, the fantastic and absurd dominate.
