Le Maître d’école (1981) - film review

When he loses his job as a shop assistant, Gérard Barbier decides to become a primary school teacher.  He is given no training and he is warned that the job is difficult and badly remunerated.  Still, his love of children and his enthusiasm carries him through his first few difficult days.  One of his fellow schoolteachers, Mademoiselle Lajoie, attempts to seduce him and then, depressed by her job, tries to kill herself.  With Mademoiselle Lajoie in hospital and the headmaster off with ‘flu, Gérard ends up having two cope with three classes of children.

Coluche is the star of this limp comedy which, despite a few amusing sequences, generally fails to satisfy.  Instead of making any meaningful observations on the teaching profession, the film lazily falls back on tired old clichés and doesn’t really have much to offer except for Coluche’s winning deadpan comedy.  There is some amusement to be had in some of the classroom scenes – particularly those where Coluche allows his canny pupils to steer a discussion into areas where no sane schoolteacher would want to go.  In the end, the film just runs out of stream and the only reward for anyone staying the course is the closing song from Alain Souchon.

© James Travers 2004

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