Neila (Caméla Jordana) is young working class Arab woman who sees gaining a law degree as her way out of the depressing Paris suburb she's being brought up in. But her first day at university is ruined when Professor Mazard (Daniel Auteuil) publicly attacks her in racist, misogynistic rant. He finds himself in trouble with his boss when a video of the incident goes viral. To make amends he must find a way of building a relationship with Neila to prove he's not the racist the world sees him as (even though he is), so he ingratiates himself to give her training in rhetoric and become a competitive debater.
The storyline is largely predictable - she takes time to adapt to his 'tough love' methods of tuition, but comes to respect him and becomes the university's star debater. When she finds out about Mazard's motivation for taking her on they fall out, but a form of reconciliation brings closure. A familiar tale, but the dialogue, acting and chemistry between the two leads makes this a far better movie than the above suggests. Mazard's methods offer plenty of opportunity for comedy, there are some interesting sub plots going on. Although the ending is a bit too-good-to-be-true the characters remain honest. Neila knows that their friendship is superficial and Auteuil does a wonderful job of ensuring Mazard stays unlikable - he'll always be a bit of a prick.
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