If you want to suffer with the French for the harsh conditions school teachers in a province endure, look no further. If you want clichés and love triangles, soapy predictable over emotional situations all thrown at you, instead of "the subject", you will love this. If you want to know what is like to be a teacher, look elsewhere. "Entre les murs" for instance.
I find the protagonist, "Lisa Riviere", a complete bore, so politically correct I could hardly believe when at the end of chapter 4 she actually does something on a whim/ emotion, reacting badly but making her human/ not "cardboard". But it was too late, I never felt any sympathy for puppets. The rest of the cast is thrown dead phrases and unbelievable situations, all for the sake of "drama". Young disadvantaged boy fancies rich botox blonde who would never be a school teacher in the first place on one chapter, but she doesn't yield yet, we have to wait for the next chapter. Young and inexperienced young clumsy town teacher fancies tough ex husband of Schoolmistress, but he is busy at the end of chapter 4, you'll have to endure chapter 5 to watch it unravel.
Were this a puppet theatre play made by school children I'd understand. But I guess they'd do it better, or at least definitely more fun and spontaneous. But I guess that wouldn't be a very French thing to do :).
