Passion for Life (French: L'école buissonnière) is a 1949 French comedy drama film directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois and starring Bernard Blier, Juliette Faber and Édouard Delmont. It was shot at the Victorine Studios in Nice and on location around Saint-Jeannet, Vence and Gattières. The film's sets were designed by the art director Claude Bouxin.
Synopsis
In 1920 a young teacher and Great War veteran of liberal views arrives in a small French town in Provence to take up a position in the local school. His new way of teaching which places great emphasis on the happiness of the students, ruffles the feathers of the more conservative elements in town who try to have him dismissed.
Cast
Bernard Blier as Buffle Pascal, l'instituteur
Juliette Faber as Lise Arnaud, l'institutrice
Édouard Delmont as M. Arnaud, le vieux maître
Edmond Ardisson as Le coiffeur Pourpre
Henri Arius as Le maire Hector Malicorne
Bréols as Aristide
Géo Beuf as Honoré
Georges Cahuzac as Cornille
Jean-Louis Allibert as M. St. Saviole, Le 'novateur'
Louis Lions as Félix
Louisol as Le menuisier
Marcel Maupi as M. Alexandre, the pharmacist
Rilda as Le facteur
Sicard as Tordo
Danny Caron as Cécile Simonin
Jenny Hélia as Mme Honoré
Jeanne Mars as Adélaïde
Marthe Marty as Mélanie
Raymone as L'aveugle
Marcel Alba as Un examinateur
Lucien Callamand as L'examinateur de calcul
Gaston Modot as L'examinateur de Français
Henri Poupon as L'examinateur d'histoire
Jean Aquistapace as L'antiquaire La Verdière
Pierre Coste as Albert Simonin, le grand chef
References
Bibliography
Bessy, Maurice & Chirat, Raymond. Histoire du cinéma français: encyclopédie des films, 1940–1950. Pygmalion, 1986 Crisp, Colin. French Cinema—A Critical Filmography: Volume 2, 1940–1958. Indiana University Press, 2015. Rège, Philippe. Encyclopedia of French Film Directors, Volume 1. Scarecrow Press, 2009.