In 1981, France wasn't in a good state. A period of recession, the election of a new president (the socialist Mitterand), and an old-fashioned school system was what it had to deal with. Coluche, one of the country's greatest comedians, decided to show his own view of the situation with the excellent "Le maître d'école", and in the process gave some valuable lessons about humanity, love towards children, and the behaviour of school and parents towards them.
In this movie, he is Gérard Barbier, a shop assistant, who is fired because he protected a young shop-lifter, and decides to become a teacher, believing he fulfills the criteria to do so. The school he works in is not ideal; a syndicalist teacher (Roland Giraud), a disciplinarian one (Josianne Balasko) and a compassionate yet conservative principal are the other prominent members of the staff. None of them is extremely affectionate towards the children (the institution is a primary school), and all of them employ the backward method of punishing them because "they said so". Here comes Barbier to save the situation. From his first moment in class, he explains to his pupils that they should think by themselves, and mostly conducts his lessons through long discussions touching on taboo topics of the time, that mostly arise from innocent jokes the kids make. Homosexuality, the death penalty, democracy are some of the topics the pioneering teacher talks about.
In contrast to the other educators, who don't even think of discussing with their students, Barbier cares about their personal lives too, and helps many of them that face problems in their family environments: the child of divorced parents that he accommodates for some time, another one who doesn't get to do her homework because of having difficulties in life with her single mother, even one whose ball is confiscated since he brought it while it was forbidden to do so; everything is important to the affectionate teacher.
From a sociological standpoint, this film provides a detailed image of the school system and family life in France during the early 80's. The school system hasn't yet evolved too much, having kept its strict character of the d'Estaing years (Giscard d'Estaing was the president before Mitterand). Families too, retain much of their traditional structure, and even in divorced ones, the kids are just expected to obey the parents. Both "Le maître d'école", and the series "Pause café" - this one focusing on high school students- offered refreshing insights into the world of school and the need for compassion for students' problems, almost nonexistent at the time.
With "Le maître d'école", Coluche showed once again his affection for the disadvantaged that led him to create the charity "Les restos du coeur" four years later. For him, children were important, they had opinions too. France was in high need of hearing this back then.
Director Claude Berri, of Jean de Florette fame, portrayed every character as a multifaceted person who isn't just good or bad; yes, Barbier wins our sympathy, but both poor Josianne Balasko, who gets to go to hospital because of her tiredness with her job, and the left-winger Giraud, passionate for change in the representation of teachers through the syndicalist cause, get their moments. These two actors'performances were also excellent and served the film well, showing the contradiction between them and Coluche's character.
Unfortunately, the film hasn't aged completely well, because it also references some positions, that although would be considered outrageous now, were considerably popular back then, the most infamous one being the suggestion of letting only children of French parents go to school. This is just to show that even a time considered ideal by some also had its problems.
In conclusion, "Le maître d'école" is a comedy different from other box-office hits of the time, one that promotes a beautiful and powerful message through memorable performances by capable actors, and admirable direction. In a period where many in France were worried by the school system's state, Coluche came and gave some useful lessons to everyone who wanted to hear; fortunately, many did. And we should be grateful for that.
