WARNING: Some details of the plot are revealed.
What I liked about this movie initially was it's realistic portrayal of French teenagers. At the beginning of the film, you get a good sense of what life must be like at a French high school. And throughout the film, you notice the similarities -- as well as the differences -- between life in France and life in your own country. But the film is ruined by it's main plot . When a teacher seduces one of his students and then dumps her after doing "the act," she becomes very depressed. She shows up for his class a few days later and abruptly jumps out of the window. We learn that she was unstable and had attempted suicide before, but the students justifiably want the teacher fired. Later, when they discover that the harassing teacher is also a neo Nazi, they decide to take the matter into their own hands. "He must die," says one of them, and they proceed to carry out the dirty deed. The police investigate, but ultimately they don't even care enough to find out who pulled the trigger. After all, he was a Nazi. What this film tells us is that any high school teacher who goes so far as to seduce one of his students is so bad that he probably deserves to die. It says that deep down inside anyone like that must be something evil like a Nazi anyway. What could have been an excellent film dealing with an extremely sensitive subject degenerates into a tired ultra feminist tome. Too bad. it could have been much, much more.
What I liked about this movie initially was it's realistic portrayal of French teenagers. At the beginning of the film, you get a good sense of what life must be like at a French high school. And throughout the film, you notice the similarities -- as well as the differences -- between life in France and life in your own country. But the film is ruined by it's main plot . When a teacher seduces one of his students and then dumps her after doing "the act," she becomes very depressed. She shows up for his class a few days later and abruptly jumps out of the window. We learn that she was unstable and had attempted suicide before, but the students justifiably want the teacher fired. Later, when they discover that the harassing teacher is also a neo Nazi, they decide to take the matter into their own hands. "He must die," says one of them, and they proceed to carry out the dirty deed. The police investigate, but ultimately they don't even care enough to find out who pulled the trigger. After all, he was a Nazi. What this film tells us is that any high school teacher who goes so far as to seduce one of his students is so bad that he probably deserves to die. It says that deep down inside anyone like that must be something evil like a Nazi anyway. What could have been an excellent film dealing with an extremely sensitive subject degenerates into a tired ultra feminist tome. Too bad. it could have been much, much more.
