A Real Job

Summer ends, a new school year begins, and a close-knit, dedicated group of teachers at a public secondary school find themselves reunited: Pierre (François Cluzet), Meriem (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Fouad, Sophie, Sandrine, Alix and Sofiane. This year, Benjamin (Vincent Lacoste), an inexperienced young substitute teacher, joins the troupe. A PhD student with no training or experience, he soon finds himself confronted with a weakened institution and discovers the difficulties of the profession, but also a passion for teaching. “At the ideal intersection between auteur film and popular cinema, the filmmaker once again succeeds in raising, without caricature, the right social questions about a profession that is sometimes battered in everyday life and offering all the positive answers for those who are able to recognize them. “Un métier sérieux“ (”A really good job") sheds light on today's world through this microcosm and is a beautiful homage to a profession that is currently unjustly devalued. To achieve this, Thomas Lilti relies on a group of impeccable actors [...] and on his great sensitivity to distil empathy and elements of reflection in a very lively way (often funny and sometimes very moving) and in a deliberately optimistic spirit ('We do everything together, we help each other'), without however concealing the difficulties to be faced and overcome.” (Fabien Lemercier, in: cineuropa.org)