The Childhood of a Leader is a 2015 historical coming-of-age psychological drama film co-written, co-produced and directed by Brady Corbet in his directorial debut. It is loosely based on Jean-Paul Sartre's short story of the same name, published in 1939 in a collection entitled The Wall. Corbet co-wrote the screenplay with his partner Mona Fastvold.

Plot

In 1919, Prescott, an American boy, has temporarily retreated to the French countryside with his father, an American diplomat who is there to help negotiate the Treaty of Versailles, and his mother, who is German-born.