L'École pour tous (2006)
Directed by Eric Rochant

Film Review

The plot is hardly original.  A maverick young teacher enters a classroom of wolves from a socially deprived area and not only survives being eaten alive but also somehow succeeds in winning their respect.  Glenn Ford got there first with Blackboard Jungle (1955).  Sidney Poitier followed suit To Sir, With Love (1967).  Coluche did it in Le Maître d'école (1981), as did Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver (1988) (the best of the bunch). Even Gerard Depardieu got in on the act in Le Plus beau métier du monde (1996).  Now, in L'école pour tous, it's the turn of Gad Elmaleh's little brother Arié, and the impression of déja vu is so overwhelming that you want to run out into the street and scream: Enough!

Despite a brave stab at it, Eric Rochant fails to bring much in the way of originality to this now hackneyed-to-death scenario, and ennui sets in from the very first scene.  The jokes are few and far between, if not rare to the point of being an endangered species.  The fact that every character in the film is a walking caricature prompts you to wonder whether Rochant ever set foot in a state school.   Can this really be the same Eric Rochant who brought us such watchable treats as Un monde sans pitié (1989) and Aux yeux du monde (1990)?

Film Synopsis

After failing his end-of-school exams, Jahwad was easily drawn into a life of crime, much to the distress of his mother who, over the years that followed, had to get used to frequent visits from the police.  Now thirty years of age, Jahwad still leads the life of a juvenile delinquent and is unlikely to change his ways - until Fate gives him a second chance.  It all begins when he is stopped by a car driver who has lost his way.  The driver introduces himself as Despalin and explains that he is trying to get to the school in the suburbs where is to take up his new teaching post.  Jahwad offers to help out but no sooner has he climbed into the car than an accident takes place.  When Despalin passes out, Jahwad sees this as an omen and decides to take his place.  He will go back to school - not as a student, but as a teacher...