Pas de vagues

Although I was never a teacher, part of some of my jobs in social services was to be a Personal Effectiveness tutor. I know how difficult young people can be. I left social work nearly twenty five years ago and things are different now. A few years before I switched careers, upon leaving a job I'd liked, the project manager and staff arranged a leaving do at one of the local pubs. The sixteen to eighteen year old kids were invited. Do that now and all the adults would be sacked and disbarred. Even socialising with the youth outside of arranged school or training events is discouraged. So when Julien took a bunch of favoured kids out for burgers it was very ill advised. Picking on Leslie as part of a poem was not too clever either.

However, Julien was clearly innocent of the accusations which snowballed because of family reactions, school politics and jealous colleagues. Every one of these players made things worse until Julien was openly undermined by fellow staff.

We saw the effects the baseless slurs had on his personal life too in his friendships as well as his relationship with gorgeous Walid.

Based on a true story as it was, I was disappointed not to see a conclusion. Nonetheless we can extrapolate. The original teacher switched careers into the film industry. That's a pretty sad hint.

The film leaves one wondering how many other lives have been ruined by spiteful and untrue accusations, especially these days when the complainant is meant to be believed credulously. I admire those in teaching and youth services but I'm so glad I'm out of that field. The film took me back with its sterling performances. I do recommend it.