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Graduate First
Graduate First
7.5
/10
904 Ratings

GRADUATE FIRST

Passe ton bac d'abord

Directed by Maurice Pialat
France, Canada, 1978
Drama, Comedy

Synopsis

In a town in northern France, teenagers sitting for the baccalaureate await the fateful date with anxiety tempered with indifference. Teachers are considering the exam as the highway to employment but the disillusioned teenagers see it more as the dead-end street to unemployment.

Synopsis

In a town in northern France, teenagers sitting for the baccalaureate await the fateful date with anxiety tempered with indifference. Teachers are considering the exam as the highway to employment but the disillusioned teenagers see it more as the dead-end street to unemployment.

Our take

From puppy love to exam anxiety, all the flavors of high-school life are served in Maurice Pialat’s irresistible portrait of disaffected youth. Countering cinema’s hyper focus on Parisian student culture, Graduate First teases out the charm as well as the frustration of a provincial upbringing.