L'école est finie

France has a movie genre that we once had in the States but seem to have lost: tales of snobby, close-minded Parisians who think that civilization stops at the gates to that city but who, to their horror, find themselves having to live in some small town out in the French sticks. The trajectory is inevitable, but getting there is often fun, and the positive presentation of life in rural France speaks to the fact that even if the French, like Americans, are more and more drawn to city life for economic reasons, many of them still harbor the idea that social life is better in small-town France.

This movie is yet another riff on that genre, and an enjoyable one after the main character, a young school teacher sent from Paris to a small farming town , finally starts to abandon her prejudices and stereotypes about life in rural France. The performances are all find, in particular that of the female lead.

For those attracted to men, you will have to take my word for it: Gregory Fittoussi with a beard looks completely different, and a million times more attractive.