En av François Truffauts beste filmer er ikke blant de mest kjente. Bak alle de oppleste og vedtatte moderne klassikerne finner vi Small Change («L’Argent de poche», 1976), en enestående vakker og følsom film om å være barn, som fortjener å bli sett av alle.

Kritikerlegenden Roger Ebert beskriver den perfekt i sin anmeldelse:

There’s a moment in Francois Truffaut’s «Small Change» that remembers childhood so well we don’t know whether to laugh or ache. It takes place in a classroom a few minutes before the bell at the end of the school day. The class cutup is called on. He doesn’t have the answer (he never does), but as he stands up his eyes stray to a large clock outside the window. The hand stands at 28 minutes past the hour. Click: 29 minutes. He stalls, he grins, the teacher repeats the question. Click: 30 minutes, and the class bell rings. The kid breaks out in a triumphant grin as he joins the stampede from the room.

This moment, like so many in Truffaut’s magical film, has to be seen to be appreciated. He recreates childhood, and yet he sees it objectively, too: He remembers not only the funny moments but the painful ones. The agony of a first crush. The ordeal of being the only kid in class so poor he has to wear the same sweater every day. The painful earnestness that goes into the recitation of a dirty joke that neither the teller nor the listeners quite understand.