Bertrand Tavernier's somewhat bookish treatment of a somewhat bookish (and not especially good bookish) subject: a Seventh Grade schoolteacher suffering from job burnout, taking a doctor-ordered leave of absence, and re-evaluating her life. The heroine, in the manner of those in psychological novels, experiences numerous flashbacks when sitting in the bathtub, grading students' papers, staring out a bus window, or whatever; and the dialogue is riddled with repeatable lines ("Kids no longer resemble their parents; they resemble their epoch"). The most heart-warming display of literariness, at least to anyone who harbors educational ideals, is the bristling classroom discussion of Molière. The movie is dedicated to screenwriter Jean Aurenche, who collaborated on Tavernier's first film, The Clockmaker of St. Paul; and Philippe Noiret makes a cameo appearance as the same character, five years later, that he played in that film. With Nathalie Baye and Michel Galabru. (1980) — Duncan Shepherd
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