The role of a sensitive, freckle-faced, red-haired boy, abused by a malicious mother and an indifferent father, and driven in despair and lonelines to attempt suicide, is marvellously acted by 12-year-old Robert Lynen (who was compared at the time to Jackie Cooper for his uncanny understanding of the role and the naturalness of his portrayal). Because of the subject matter, the film fell prey to the French censors (who only succeeded in chopping up a delicately-played suicide attempt), but was in any case already saved from morbidity by its rich photography and hopeful climax.

“Julien Duvivier brought a constantly fertile imagination to his films, many of them outright masterpieces without qualification (Un Carnet de Bal, La Belle Equipe, Pepe Le Moko). The sensitive Poil de Carotte was among the first of France's procession of the 30s (filled with the ‘enfants-terribles' of the 20s: Rene Clair, Jean Renoir, Jean Vigo, Jacques Feyder, Claude Autant-Lara, etc.). It displayed a thorough understanding of the sound medium at a time when sound was a bug-a-boo to film technique, and the technique in this film was composed of film rhythms without regard to the supposed requirements of literary narrative. As such, it succeeded in portraying abnormal psychological states by indirection.”