La Journée de la jupe (2009) Directed by Jean-Paul Lilienfeld
Comedy / Drama
aka: Skirt Day
Film Review
Remember the good old days, when teaching was a respectable profession
and teachers were able to do their job without fear of being assaulted,
mutilated, driven to a nervous breakdown or dragged into court on a
trumped up paedophilia charge? La Journée de la jupe offers
one solution that will take us back to these halcyon days and restore
order in the classroom: equip educators with firearms and allow them to
pump lead into any recalcitrant yob who dares to step out of line. Jean-Paul Lilienfeld's
off-the-wall social thriller may be clumsily provocative but it does at
least raise a serious issue which the politcians and pedagogues have
yet to resolve. Just how can teachers educate our children if
they no longer have any authority in the classroom?
The main attraction of La
Journée de la jupe is Isabelle Adjani riding high in her
second big comeback. After a six year break from cinema, she
returns with fire in her belly and a performance to knock 'em dead -
appropriately enough since she plays a psychotic teacher with a
distinct touch of the Arnold Schwarzeneggers about her. It is
part that appears to have been tailor-made for the actress, who is at
her best when she can make good use of her penchant for histrionic
excess. The role isn't particularly challenging; all that is
required is to shout a lot and look suitably sinister. Still
Adjani pulls it off admirably and was rewarded with yet
another Best Actress César (her fifth so far) in 2010. The
film itself is fun and thought-provoking, even if its political subtext
is somewhat lacking in subtlety.
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Film Synopsis
Sonia Bergerac is a teacher in an ordinary inner city high school on
the outskirts of Paris. She is about to start a lesson on
Molière when her class is disrupted by unruly pupils. In
the course of a violent altercation, a handgun falls from a bag.
Sonia snatches it up and fires a shot, injuring one of her
students. Now that she has a captive audience, Sonia can at last
do the job she is paid to do...
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