In the 80's, a wind of change swept through the French school system. Out went the authoritarianism of the 50's and the 60's, in came the computers and new, progressive teachers. All this faced the negative reaction of the existent members of the establishment, something which the media drew on to satirise. One of those who did that was director Patrick Schulmann, who paired together Patrick Bruel, Christophe Bourseiller, Laurent Gamelon and Fabrice Luchini in this amazing comedy.
The plot revolves around a forward-thinking teacher, Frédéric Game, played by Patrick Bruel. He gets a position at a high school (lycée), and there he meets a lazy librarian (Bourseiller), a clumsy PE teacher (Gamelon), and an eccentric art teacher (Luchini), who all despise the existing school system and want to change it by getting rid of their conservative colleagues. Their plan so as to achieve this is simple yet clever; playing pranks on them until they leave the school willingly.
What this movie boasts is the performances of the four protagonists. Especially Bruel and Luchini did an amazing job , the one being calm and patient yet charming and the other coming off as completely bizarre, with his excessive talks about art and his unconventional means of materialising his artistic ambitions, often involving strange objects like diapers(!) Gamelon and Bourseiller were funny too, and it was them who gave the film its lightness.
The other teachers were a pleasure to watch. There was a Marxist geography teacher, who was rambling about how the borders of the USSR "respect" the mountains, a Chemistry teacher who electrocuted her students for getting bad grades (!!), and, last but not least, a secretary so stuck to the old values that she is shocked by the "M. A. S. H." poster Frédéric Game hangs on the school's announcement board and takes it off shortly after. Schulmann made this scene on purpose, the movie's title being itself a reference to the classic military film.
What's special about this movie is its funny yet intelligent dialogue. The four rebellious teachers discuss their plan for playing a prank on the crazy Chemistry teacher the one moment, and debate the significance of school in the computer age the next one. Some of their arguments would have sounded strange back then, but now, that online education is a reality, Patrick Bruel's support of distance learning seems more actual than ever.
The music, composed by Schulmann himself, is excellent too, based on the new at the time synthesizer. It is composed solely by instrumentals, but is still a pleasure to listen to, sounding modern for its time, with pieces that stick to the ear for days after.
Director Patrick Schulmann was excellent too, something shown not only by his choice of actors, but also by how he used them in the film. All of them have spirited performances, making the total result priceless for being both hilarious and smart.
All in all, if you are interested in seeing a French comedy from my dear 80's, I can't recommend you any other but "P. R. O. F. S.". It's surely a cinematic experience that can't be easily forgotten. And this is for the better.
