52 Films by Women Vol 2. 43. PRIMAIRE (Elementary) (Director: Hélène Angel)
A director’s past work is no indication of what they might produce. This is abundantly true of Primaire ( Elementary ) directed by Hélène Angel from a screenplay she wrote with Yann Coridian, Olivier Gorce and Agnès De Sacy. Set in Grenoble in France, a city in south-eastern France close to the French Alps, it describes the struggle to a young primary school teacher, Florence (Sara Forestier, redefined by this movie) to balance life and work. Both are thrown out of whack by two events. Her ex-husband wants their ten-year-old son Denis (Albert Cousi) to travel with him to Asia. Then a troubled kid, Sacha (Ghillas Bendjoudi) abandoned by her mother ends up having a fixation of her. Throw in a class inspection, a pupil who struggles with reading, Greek myth, a difficulty with the special needs assistant who is coaxing one pupil a little too much and an Oriental food delivery guy, and there is a super abundance of incident to keep viewers absorbed over the film’s 105-minute running t...