La Vie scolaire

End of June 2019, I saw this excellent film at a French premiere in the presence of the director Mehdi Idir and a few actors such as Liam Pierron and Moussa Mansaly, within UGC Parly, right next to Versailles, in the suburbs of Paris. Liam Pierron told us how he happened by chance to the rehearsals, accompanying a friend who was selected. No muss, no fuss ... he is at the top of the poster!

Second film directed by the duo Grand Corps Malade + Mehdi Idir, La Vie scolaire (2019) is truly excellent: entertaining, truculent, deliberately caricatural, delicate, subtle, ... The co-directors give us an empathetic and tender look on a forgotten suburb. Moreover, Zita Hanrot and Liam Pierron are both awesome. Actually, the whole cast was skillfully elaborated in order to obtain a tiptop chemistry, with awesome supporting roles such as Farid (a hilarious teen suffering from mythomania), Dylan (a wacky monitor despite an inadequate IQ), a sports teacher with unorthodox activities, ...

As a synthesis: an excellent achievement. For sure, I will see their third movie, no matter what! 7/8 of 10

Brilliant script that genuinely made me laugh out loud many times. The ending was a rushed but also that seemed to be on purpose too - detailing the reality of a school kids situation in Saint-Denis.

I'm generally a fan of series and movies that take place in schools or universities, probably because I belong to that age group myself. I have to say that I couldn't enjoy the movie flawlessly because I watched it spread over 3 days, but I am still very convinced by it.

The school life of these ghetto kids is brought across very realistically. Even if the dialogues are somewhat exaggerated due to the above-average use of Arabic words, the individual students and their behavior are very real. Everyone knows classmates who would behave like one or the other character in the film. The same goes for the teachers, who all have different characters.

I love movies that don't necessarily have a clear storyline, but just give the viewer the feeling of being there. We dive into the world of a socially deprived area and learn more and more about the backgrounds of the students and teachers. Of course, there is a lot of social criticism, but basically we as viewers just watch how school life develops in this French school.

However, the Characters come me partly a little too short because there are just too many and not all could be worked out very well. Furthermore, I miss the relationships between the individual students, unfortunately, we get almost only insights into the private lives of individual students whereby this class community vibe is lost. Towards the end it develops into a drama of a single student which I found a bit disappointing but still exciting and partly also emotional.

This little movie about, quote, "a ghetto school in a ghetto" is amazing. The acting and dialouge is low key and true in a way that gives a documentary feeling. I was truly touched, and this movie will stay in my thoughts for a long time.

I found this movie gripping from beginning to end. It creates a series of clearly developed and delineated characters who all attend or teach in a high school in one of the poor suburbs of Paris. The teachers, most of them, try to help the kids connect with their schooling in some way, though that isn't always easy. Some of the students are bright and could succeed, but have a lot of extra-curricular hurdles that keep getting in their way. Others just aren't meant for school.

These various threads are woven together by first-rate actors and directing, such that they never leave you looking at your watch. These become real people for you, and you want them - most of them, at any rate - to be able to succeed.

No one here is perfect. (You probably aren't either, if you really take a good look at yourself.) Still, most not just want something more out of life, but are willing to do something to earn it. You want them to succeed.