Pas de vagues

Watched this on an airplane but should have spent the time reading my book. M. Civil turns in as good a performance as can be expected, but the overall film is seriously lacking in dramatic impact and emotional engagement. Kinda surprising, given its the true story of one of its directors. Blah disguised as social commentary. Actually the kids display more emotion - probably because they're kids and kids are often quite cruel. I don't quite understand why that's true but I know their antisocial behavior is not unique to French culture - perhaps even more so in America. I just wish this film didn't have the French New Wave anti-climatic ending. Blah and blah again.

Do you remember an André Cayatte's film from 1967, starring Jacques Brel, as a school teacher accused of molesting - or raping - a little girl? Probably not. Anyway, it's not necessary to have watched the two films; the period is not the same but the plot yes. It is in the line of what happens today from time to time in schools. Good acting and realistic situations. It evokes modern issues. Good French drama which main strength is to remain factual, without any message to deliver. At least that's the way I saw it. François Civil is really a rising star who seems to be able to play any kind of role.

I didn't like the way the story was constructed throughout the film. It had potential, but it was wasted. It would end without an ending and without a conclusion and it would need to have one. In my opinion, it's not worth going to the cinema. I saw it at the Varilux French Film Festival in São Paulo, Brazil. The performances were good, but the characters ended up being clichés. During the film we felt indignation at the protagonist being so foolish and naive, making us want to scream at him not to be such an idiot. The highlight was the children, who represented well the evil, anguish and guilt that can torment everyone at this age, especially the poorest and most vulnerable children.

Wasted time It had all the ingredients to be a great movie unfortunately the ending ruins the whole effort, I don't know what the screenwriter was thinking but this movie had to give some answers especially since it says it is based on real events! What's the point if you don't tell us what happened to the character in the movie? Without an ending he didn't have anything new to say all the messages he wanted to get across we've seen them in other movies 1000 times and with more meaning too bad. The direction is very nice the protagonist plays fantastically as do the rest of the characters, he tries to touch on the loopholes that exist in the legal system and how unprotected a person is who has not been taken care of by the system but the script is all so superficial that in combination with the sketchy finale they destroy the whole movie, when the creator can't write something good and worked he just leaves things hanging to pass as something cultural for Cannes.

Although I was never a teacher, part of some of my jobs in social services was to be a Personal Effectiveness tutor. I know how difficult young people can be. I left social work nearly twenty five years ago and things are different now. A few years before I switched careers, upon leaving a job I'd liked, the project manager and staff arranged a leaving do at one of the local pubs. The sixteen to eighteen year old kids were invited. Do that now and all the adults would be sacked and disbarred. Even socialising with the youth outside of arranged school or training events is discouraged. So when Julien took a bunch of favoured kids out for burgers it was very ill advised. Picking on Leslie as part of a poem was not too clever either.

However, Julien was clearly innocent of the accusations which snowballed because of family reactions, school politics and jealous colleagues. Every one of these players made things worse until Julien was openly undermined by fellow staff.

We saw the effects the baseless slurs had on his personal life too in his friendships as well as his relationship with gorgeous Walid.

Based on a true story as it was, I was disappointed not to see a conclusion. Nonetheless we can extrapolate. The original teacher switched careers into the film industry. That's a pretty sad hint.

The film leaves one wondering how many other lives have been ruined by spiteful and untrue accusations, especially these days when the complainant is meant to be believed credulously. I admire those in teaching and youth services but I'm so glad I'm out of that field. The film took me back with its sterling performances. I do recommend it.