Les fautes d'orthographe

Bearing more than a distant resemblance to Jean Vigo's famous work's spirit,"les fautes d'Orthographe" is ,as far as directing is concerned ,MTV quality.The supervisor's long hair is an unlikelihood: at the time,all the supervisors were wearing a suit and a tie,French's honor!I know what I'm talking about.And as for the rebellious mind,it could happen,yes ,but before 1968,it was almost implausible.

But given it is a true story ,we've got to take that for granted,at least in the lousy boarding school the hero's parents are running.Olivier Gourmet is good,but Carole Bouquet ,cast against type,wearing glasses,is amazing as a mother hen .

The young hero is a hung-up kid,afraid of having a shower with his mates ,and hated by a lot of them because he is the headmaster's sonny.As he is not very cute ,not very strong and not very good at spelling ,the only way for him to avoid becoming a punching bag is to prove himself smarter than the pack.The "school fund" which he creates and which sells stolen products will be his lucky break:as food at school is not exactly mouth-watering,selling "La Vache qui Rit" (cheese spread)or "Chocorêves" (literally "Chocolate Dreams"),chocolates French pupils were fond of which are no longer produced gives the ugly duckling the prestige he was longing for.

The film includes two versions of "Donna Donna Donna" ,the first one in Yiddish (the hero's parents and his best friend are Jews)and the second one in French.The French words to this old folk song are different from the English one Joan Baez (notably) used to sing in the early sixties.The song talks about a boy who dreams of being a man ;when he grows up,he will regret the time when he was a child.That was perhaps what the director/writer wanted to tell us in the end.

"Les fautes d'orthographes" tells two stories, which is the main drawback of this interesting movie: at the end, we have a feeling of unachievement, because two (intricate) plots are started, and none are really finished.

Despised this problem, I strongly recommend this movie, for both plots. The first one is the portray of a young teenager put in a difficult position (his father is the severe head of the boarding school where he is pupil) at a difficult time (being 14-year-old, his body is still the one of a child). The conflict with the father, the discovery of sexuality, the embarrassing presence of the mother... contribute to a strong tension, stressed by the natural sadism of teenagers in a boarding school.

The second plot is about the discovery of radical political action of the group of pupils to react against the severe head of the school. These young people read anarchist authors and try to apply their theory of revolution ("hop hop hop rebellion!") to the pre-68 school administration. The movie turns to a discovery of the right to rebel against authority.

Let's finish this comment by mentioning the very good level of each actor, both adults and teenagers.

"Les fautes d'orthographe": "Misspellings". Daniel always gets the wrong spelling and writes every French word in what he calls "phonetics". Daniel does cheat and he always has recourse to his comrades to make corrections before handing any assignment. This inability to write correctly was a considerable handicap at that time and could seriously threaten anybody's progress at school since correct spelling was thought to be a paramount skill to make your way through life. Daniel Massu is aged 15 but he only looks 13. His father is the head master of the boarding school. His mother is the supervisor. This year, his father has decided that Daniel should go down to sleep with his school mates in the dormitory. The very thought of the dormitory and its promiscuity terrifies Daniel. All the more so since nearly all pupils look upon him as privileged and/or as the teacher's pet. In order to win the trust and the friendship of his peers, Daniel defies his mother who feels split between her love for her son and her pride for creating this school with the will to help underprivileged children. Each of the actors performances cracks up to the viewer's expectations and everyone of them participate in re creating the atmosphere of boarding schools in the 60's.