Truant School (L'École buissonnière)

Bernard BLIER (Schoolmaster)

Juliette FABER (Teacher)

DELMONT (Old Teacher)

THE SCHOOL OF LIFE.

and AQUISTAPACE (The Antiquary)

And 23 children from several villages in Provence to experience-

PASSION FOR LIFE

This is the story of a fighter in the 1914-18 war

who returned with the hope that it would be the last.

He graduated from the Ecole Normale d'Instituteurs in July 1914.

His first classroom was the Battle of the Marne.

For 4 years he had no students other than the men he commanded.

Seriously wounded in 1918 he dragged out a year going from one hospital to another

with but one burning ambition and desire:

finally to practise his profession as an educator,

to prepare for a more beautiful life,

and to start all over again with the children,

because they themselves are a beginning.

October 1920.

We are in Haute-Provence

and M Pascal has just been appointed to his first position.

Excuse me Madame, which is the way to Salèzes?

You'll see, you'll like Salèzes.

It's not a big city, of course,

but the people are friendly and the wine is good.

Unlike the ones opposite, up there in Sestrières.

Isn't that true, M Cornille?

In my time, the Schoolmaster was called M Poinsonnet.

He had a speciality.

For no reason at all, he'd rip off your ear.

Do you know M Arnaud, the teacher I'm replacing?

Yes. - Hell, yes I know him!

An odd Schoolmaster, a scholar,

who sets problems no one can answer.

Really? - Yeah!

I can't tell you about it.

Don't you know that one, Honoré? Hell yes!

A father is five times the age of his son.

He got married at 24.

And that's as many years ago as it takes for the son to be 24 himself.

How old is the father, and how old is the son?

We bamboozled a lot of people with that!

And people from the city! Isn't that true, M Cornille?

Who's that passing on the road?

It's Aristide on his way back.

Oh yeah? And who's with him?

M Cornille, Honoré and someone I don't know.

Must be the new Schoolmaster.

This road doesn't look like much, but it climbs up nicely!

When I think that the racers are going to hurtle down there!

Full speed.

Is there a race tomorrow? - What, you didn't know that?

The second stage of the Tour de Provence.

Organized by the Petit Niçois and the Petit Provençal papers.

It'll be a nice race. For sure.

Nicer than the Tour de France.

Seventy racers engaged.

Belgians, Italians, Alavoine, Jacky Hinault,

and our own Boufartigue.

Boufartigue is from Salèzes.

And do you think he'll win?

He can't do anything else!

The folk in Sestrières would die laughing!

What about you, M Cornille, who do you support?

My sideburns? - I had them cut a long time ago.

Come on, Olive! You're so stubborn!

Oh the Devil, what's happening?

What? - An accident!

Good Lord, what's going on? - A broken axle.

What are you guys doing?

We're resting.

These lazybones are as brave as a grass snake about to spawn a lizard.

Oh Félicien, do you have a rope?

I think so!

Sorry, will this take long? - As long as it takes to fix it.

I'll walk on a bit.

You won't get lost, you just have to follow the road.

All right, thank you, I'll leave my stuff with you.

Roland! Is your rope a knotted one?

Good afternoon.

Your mill looks nice. Where did you find it?

We made it! - Yeah.

Did you know you can make light with that too?

Light? - Yes, electricity.

You'll have to ask Hawkeye.

Who's that? - The big chief.

And how about you, what's your name?

Rifleman, and he's Salmon.

And my brother there, his name's Wild Caribou.

Well, take care not to fall in the water, the three of you.

Hey, we can all swim like Indians!

Look guys! A trout!

It's beautiful!

It's not forbidden to fish. - Who told you that, Hawkeye?

Who are you? - Guess who.

How did you get here? - On my legs.

What's your name? Buffalo.

And you? Albert.

Hello Albert.

I'm not going to eat you. I've eaten already today. I'm not hungry any more.

There, it had to happen. Take off your clothes and let them dry.

And you, Big Chief, rub him with grass so he won’t catch a cold.

We have a fire over there. - Take him there.

Don't cry.

I'll give you that trout I caught.

As long as his mother doesn't know he fell in the water.

Real Indians aren't afraid of their mothers.

Yes, but real Indians don't fall into the water either.

Yes.

It's the cart!

What time is it?

That's a nice watch.

When I'm older, I'm going to have one like that!

My father always hangs his watch on a nail.

He says that way it doesn't get damaged.

Well, one day I'll show you how it works.

When? - Sooner than you think.

Is there a shortcut up to Salèzes?

Of course! Cross that little wood.

And when you get to the ridge the village is straight ahead.

Who do you think he is?

You want me to tell you, guys? - Far as I'm concerned, he's a smuggler.

Good evening ladies.

Good evening Monsieur, nice evening, isn't it?

When the rooster crows twice, it often means rain.

Yeah. - We need rain.

Well yes-Good evening gentlemen.

Who's he?

The new Schoolmaster.

Well, no offence, but he doesn't look like a gentleman.

He left his hat on the train.

There's no 'z' in 'vas-y'!

Yes, there is. - No there's not!

Careful, it's not dry yet. - Hey, Teacher!

We've been looking for you.

We wondered what had become of you.

I took your luggage to the school. - Thanks, I'm coming.

Is that the new Schoolmaster?

So, who's showing me the way to the school?

GO BOUFARTIGUE.

Bernard! You go with this gentleman.

Oh, you know, the trouble they cause.

You'll have to tame them. Don't worry, Madame.

But I can’t help worrying. The older one is out all day with Albert.

So, are you going? Are you going or not?

If you don’t go, he’ll lock you in a dark closet! Watch out!

You shouldn’t say that, Madame. Now he’ll never want to come to school.

Want to go to school? If you wait until they want to go to school.

You could wait a long time.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

The problem is making them thirsty.

So who's taking me to the school?

Are you scared?

I'll do it.

What's your name? - Ernest.

Let's go, Ernest. - This way.

The new Schoolmaster's just arrived.

What's he like?

He's not the same as M Arnaud.

I heard he's missing half a lung.

My God, the war.

He's really odd. I didn't imagine him like that.

He's fat.

This is the school, monsieur.

Thank you Ernest, see you tomorrow.

Goodbye, monsieur.

The Schoolmaster, I presume? - Yes.

Hector Malicorne, Mayor of Salèzes.

Deeply honoured, sir. I was just coming to greet you.

You wouldn't have found me.

I'm teaching the young fellows a lesson.

So you see, I'm a teacher too.

I see you're looking at the memorial.

We know you're a hero.

Oh, no modesty.

Twenty five souls for a small town like ours.

At the end of the day, they died so that there would never be war again.

Allow me to introduce you to these gentlemen.

M Tordo, from the Bazar Parisien.

M Pourpre, the hairdresser.

And the pharmacist, M Alexandre, also known as Shorty.

Oh sorry, and M Laverdière, our distinguished antiquary.

Antiquary and numismatist, please!

Pleased to meet you!

Our new Schoolmaster.

He's a Normalien.

They’ve never had one in Sestrières.

Nor in the other valley. - Not even here.

I'm not saying that for our good M Arnaud, who's a scholar.

Ah yes, right, he used to set problems that no one has ever been able to solve.

For example: a father is five times the age of his son.

Ah yes, I know. The son is eight years old and the father 40.

What we need here is a wooden stick. - A wooden stick?

A strong man who knows a little about taming all these rascals.

It's just that we have an odd one here. Yes-Albert?

You know him already? - Who is he, exactly?

The son of a poor unfortunate. A nobody, killed in the war.

Ah, so-a hero?

Yes yes-But believe me.

Crack down on them from the start. And if you need anything.