This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The last episode of Pagnol's memories (see also "La Gloire de Mon Père" "le Château de Ma Mère" and "Le Temps des secrets")deal with the teenage years of Marcel.While always spending his Summers in his dear Garrigue,he is now on the way to the Baccalaureat (High School Diploma (US) ,Abitur (Germany) A Level (UK)).He 's got a good pal Lagneau (TheLamb) who of course infuriates the teachers when he "bleats" .He helps his buddy cope with his violent father .His studies are uneven then more successful.We see him solve a quadratic equation,do Latin and translating "the birds are singing in the trees" into French (Pagnol would become an English teacher before becoming the writer/Director everybody admired including Orson Welles who loved "La Femme Du Boulanger " (The baker's wife").Lili and Isabelle are also included .The latter tries to go to the academy of music but her father's situation does not help.Marcel and Isabelle realize that the princess and the fair knight of their childhood were only an imitation of life.It's not love,by no means.This episode ends with a moving scene where Marcel watches his parents dancing at a country fair: the love he feels for them shines.NB:Augustine ,Marcel's father,died in 1905,as he was 15.She should not have been in these last scenes .(Robert filmed her funeral in "le Château de Ma Mère ",a very sad scene.)