Graduate First
Passe ton Bac d'abord
Maurice Pialat
In the region of Lens, a group of friends get by with more or less success. Some of them drift between small jobs and unemployment, while others continue their studies. They try to escape school, but also their often lost and disillusioned parents. Couples are made and broken between classes, in bars and at parties.
With : Sabine Haudepin, Philippe Marlaud, Annick Alane, Michel Caron, Christian Bouillette, Bernard Tronczyk, Patrick Lepzynski, Valérie Chassigneux, Jean-François Adam
Screenplay : Maurice Pialat
Image : Pierre-William Glenn, Jean-Paul Jansen
Sound : Pierre Gamet, Michel Laurent
Music : " Voyage ", direction musicale de Marc Chantereau, Patrick Juvet
Editing : Arlette Langmann, Sophie Coussein, Martine Giordano
Screenplay : Maurice Pialat
Image : Pierre-William Glenn, Jean-Paul Jansen
Sound : Pierre Gamet, Michel Laurent
Music : " Voyage ", direction musicale de Marc Chantereau, Patrick Juvet
Editing : Arlette Langmann, Sophie Coussein, Martine Giordano
Production : Films du Livradois, Renn Productions, FR3, INA
Distribution: Gaumont
Distribution: Gaumont
After the commercial failure of The Mouth Agape (La Gueule ouverte), after four years and several abandoned projects, Maurice Pialat decided to quickly film Graduate First, with a low budget. H e chose to work again with both professional and amateur actors. "If I was inspired by my own childhood when making this film," says Pialat, "it's because I too came from a poor background, and because I too pretended to study when I was totally shiftless." (M. Pialat) "Graduate First is about the inescapable spiral of life in Lens, mining country, for the working class children from modest homes who, after secondary school, find themselves condemned to a life without hope for change. Disillusioned, they simply try to put life off as long as possible by contenting themselves with the amusements of an adolescence." (J. Siclier)