Graduate First

In the gritty and unflinching French drama "Graduate First," director Maurice Pialat offers a searing portrait of teenage life in the French suburbs as a group of young working-class friends navigate the treacherous waters of unemployment, sex, and identity in 1970s northern France. The film is an unsparing look at the struggles and fears that come with trying to pass the Baccalauréat, the final exams that mark the transition from adolescence to adulthood. As the students from modest backgrounds embark on uncertain futures, Pialat's unromanticized vision of adolescence shines a harsh light on the difficulties of growing up in a region ravaged by unemployment.