Le Naïf aux quarante enfants (1958)
Directed by Philippe Agostini

Film Review

Michel Serrault stars in one of his first leading roles in this affectionate portrait of the French education system in the 1950s. Le Naïf aux quarante enfants is charming without being sentimental and effectively argues the case for an alternative approach to education, whereby pupils are enthused rather than intimidated by their teachers.  It is reminiscent of two earlier French films that dealt with the same subject - La Cage aux rossignols (1945) and L'École buissonnière (1949) - and other later films on the same theme are not too difficult to call to mind - James Clavell's To Sir, with Love (1967), Ramón Menéndez's Stand and Deliver (1988) and Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society (1989).

Serrault is excellent in the role of the amiable yet naïve schoolmaster - an unusually sympathetic part, played with great tenderness and realism, for an actor who is perhaps now better known for his dark portrayals of more complex characters in films like Claude Chabrol's Les Fantômes du chapelier (1982). This charming film was directed by Philippe Agostini, who is far better known for his work as a cinematographer (one of French cinema's most highly regarded) on such films as Marcel Carné's Le Jour se lève (1939) and Claude Autant-Lara's Douce (1943). Agostini's wife Odette Joyeux (a high profile actress of the 1940s) contributed to the screenplay. Darry Cowl, a prominent and inexplicably popular comic performer of the period, appears in a supporting role - one that reveals a more capable and likeable actor than is apparent in the bulk of Cowl's screen work.

Film Synopsis

It is with an unshakable sense of purpose and optimism that Jean-François Robignac takes up his first post as a French teacher, in a state school in Marseilles.  His innovative teaching methods endear him to his pupils who, disruptive at first, quickly fall under his spell and start to develop a love for French literature.  However, the children's parents and the school administrators are less enthusiastic about Jean-François's approach and hastily call in the school inspector.  One parent, Gina, is more favourable and defends Jean-François, not realising that he has fallen in love with her…