Passe ton bac d’abord...

Graduate First

Maurice Pialat captures life for students nearing the end of their education in an economically deprived town in northern France.

  • Director

    Maurice Pialat

  • With

    Sabine Haudepin, Philippe Marlaud, Annick Alane, Michel Caron

  • France 1978. 85min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    15

  • English subtitles

Pialat set his striking portrait of late adolescence in the northern French town of Lens, where unemployment is high and the outlook for the students who populate his drama is bleak. Capturing their daily life, Passe ton bac d’abord... is beautifully observed, with Pialat’s compassion for his characters seeing them through the hardships of life at home, in school and the wider world.