A jarring opening which sees innocent Parisian evacuees being scattered by bullets and bombs from above suggests that this wartime drama will be an eventful journey.

But having grabbed the audience's attention, acclaimed director Andre Téchiné gradually lets go with this intriguing but strangely hesitant adaptation of former soldier Gilles Perrault's novel The Boy With The Grey Eyes.

It appears that something went missing in the transition from book to screen. Namely, the characterisation.

The acting, however, cannot be faulted, with the anatomical work of art that is Emmanuelle Béart in typically fine form as Odile, a mother-of-two whose husband was killed in the opening salvos of World War II.

After abandoning their car during the aerial assault, Odile, her young daughter Cathy and 13-year-old son Philippe (Haley Joel Osment lookalike Leprince-Ringuet) follow wiry youth Yvan (A Very Long Engagement's Ulliel) into the woods.

Odile's embarrassment at wetting herself is compounded by the fact that she must put her family's safety in the hands of a cocksure drifter not much older than her son.

Yvan couldn't care less - either they come with him to the deserted house he’s found or they don't.

Philippe is happy to trust Yvan, impressed by his resourcefulness and the artefacts he has scavenged on his travels. Odile reluctantly allows Yvan into her family.

He overcomes her mistrust by putting food on the table. In return, she teaches him to read and write. And while playing big brother to Philippe and Cathy, he becomes her de facto husband.

But their cosy existence is disturbed when outsiders arrive.

With its insufficiently fleshed-out characters mostly confined to the house and its immediate surroundings, Strayed has the dramatic impact of a stage production playing to an empty theatre.

It's not bad, just forgettable.

Elliott Noble