Une semaine de vacances (1980) - film review

At 31, Laurence, a teacher at a Lyons high school, no longer feels up to her job.  She is thinking about giving up teaching altogether but her doctor advises her to take a week off work rather than make a rash decision.  Laurence takes advantage of her prescribed holiday to visit her parents and catch up with some friends, including Mancheron, the father of one of her pupils.  It isn’t only Laurence’s work that is depressing her.  She is beginning to feel trapped in her relationship with Pierre, who is insistent that they start a family...

Although not generally regarded as one of Bertrand Tavernier’s most important works, Une semaine de vacances is an engaging drama that provides a sobering reflection on the difficulties faced by teachers at time when their profession was no longer widely respected and subject to seemingly constant government initiatives.   Nathalie Baye heads an impressive cast, turning in a poignant performance which earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 1981 Césars.  The film itself was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1980 (the first of Tavernier’s three nominations for the award to date).   Although the film was made three decades ago, it continues to be highly relevant – if anything, the malaise in the teaching profession which is aluded to in this film has only worsened over this period.

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