Angel at Sea on AllMovie

A child is suddenly introduced to the darker side of the grown-up world in this drama. Louis (Martin Nissen) is a twelve-year-old boy who lives with his father Bruno (Olivier Gourmet), mother Marie (Anne Consigny) and older brother Quentin (Julien Frison). Bruno is a Belgian politician who has been sent to Morocco on an assignment, and Louis loves their new home by the seaside, where he can swim all day and play football with the other kids from the neighborhood. However, Bruno suffers from severe bouts of depression, and he's come to a point where he has a hard time hiding his condition from his children. One night, Bruno is talking to Louis and abruptly insists that he wants to kill himself, and he may do it that very evening. Bruno then tells Louis that what he's said is a secret, and he's forbidden to share it with anyone. The next morning, Bruno is still alive but Louis carries a tremendous burden as he tries to make sense of his father's dark moods and possible mortality. Un Ange a la Mer (aka Angel At Sea) was the first feature film from director Frederic Dumont.