Le petit prof

A film about peace !! A child born the day of the signature of the Locarno Treaties, but soon at the radio the grandfather listened to a speech of Adolf Hitler and some weeks or months later France is occupied by the German army.The child who has met his girlfriend in the stairs of the building will meet her again as adolescent in the shelter against bombing: Jérôme and Franooise try to explain to their parents that they love each other, the parrents accept it but later the are fighting for American tins of food found in a bomb !! Surrealistic film because some situations seem really strange, the banana skin who helped his parents to get rid of an usurer, Jérôme playing with plastic explosive , the bouquet of flowers for the chief warrant officer , the scene at the registry office. But "Le petit prof" is also a pleasant love story between Jérôme and Françoise, they have sometimes differences but soon they reconciliate. I have the feeling that this film has been specially made for Darry Cowl, an actor who managed very well to play tragicomic and surrealistic situations.I will not forget the others actors and actresses such as Béatrice Altariba, Yves robert, Francis Blanche,Rosy Varte, Jacques Dufilho.

"Le Petit Prof" was released when France was caught up in the nouvelle vague machine.It was to be Carlo Rim's last film and the last picture was an ironical about-turn :after predicting a safe world where the atom bomb would protect us against any war ,he salutes the brand new world where his soon-to-be-born second child will live.

"Le Petit Prof" is an imaginary chronicle ,from the twenties with an use of the silent movie style to the late fifties.It's very uneven: the scenes during WW2 in the air-raid shelter are rather tedious,and are déjà vu;on the other hand,the ones in the barracks where the squaddies give flowers to the warrant officer cause it's his name day ("it's the first time it has happened to me")or the recruits practicing shooting with pieces of wood are good moments of fun.It's also a good idea to follow the hero's military service by his first days as a teacher : guardhouse or detention,it's all the same and it's "line up!" and "move along!"at school or in the barracks.But Darry Cowl's teacher -who predates the notorious "carpe diem" of "dead poets society- is not convincing:what subject does he teach?after three scenes in his classroom ,I cannot make up my mind.And anyway,at the time ,he would have been fired.What?Giving a cigarette to one of his students ?(besides,it's bad for you).

Yves Robert,who plays Cowl's father,or Claude Berri ,were certainly influenced by Rim's ultimate effort .