In case you did not know it was a Sarcastic Title.
The Best Job in the World (French: Le Plus Beau Métier du monde) is a 1996 French comedy-drama film directed by Gérard Lauzier, starring Gérard Depardieu.
Laurent Monier (Depardieu) is a teacher in an elitist high school. On his 40th birthday, he accidentally reveals to his wife Hélène that he cheats on her. The couple divorces and Hélène moves to Paris. In order to keep on seeing his children, Monier asks to be assigned to a tough high school in the suburbs of Paris.
The Best Job in the World provides examples of:
- Attempted Rape: Gang-bangers kidnap Malou. They are going to rape her when Monier shows up to save her.
- Badass Teacher: When he hears that her student Malou was kidnapped, Monier immediately decides to fight the gang-bangers to free her. First he fights them alone, then the inhabitants of the neighbourhood and finally the police join him.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: In the very beginning, Monier is back home on his birthday, and he's apparently alone. The phone rings, Monier answers his mistress's call, then enter the living room. Turn out that there was a surprise party for his birthday, and everybody has hear the call and understood his infidelity. Subsequently, Monier's wife divorces him, and he's sent in a crappy job and equally crappy apartment.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Monier's neighbour, Albert Constantini, and his dogs. Everytime Monier enters his flat, his neighbour's door half-opens, and Monier sees one eye and hears the dogs barking. The neighbour and his dogs later play an important role when they save Monier from Ahmed and his gang.
- Damsel in Distress: Malou is kidnapped by Ahmed's gang. She is going to be raped when Monier shows up to save her.
- Divorce Is Temporary: Subverted. After his divorce, Monier tries to win his ex-wife's heart back. Things are moving in the right direction for him: Hélène accepts to go with him to a housewarming party. But all his efforts are ruined when Hélène realizes that he was trying to seduce another woman at the same time.
- Gangbangers: Ahmed and his friends, who are Arab and black young men, are street criminals. They hide objects that they have stolen in Monier's cellar.
- I Choose to Stay: In the end, Monier has the opportunity to go to a more privileged school, but he chooses to stay at "Serge Gainsbourg", a tough high school.
- Inner City School: "Serge Gainsbourg", the high school that Monier is assigned to, is this kind of school. Since this is France, it is located in the "banlieue" of Paris, i.e. the suburb.
- Men Can't Keep House: Monier's flat is untidy. The first time Malou gets into his flat, she starts tidying it up.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Malou regularly goes to Monier's flat to study and read books. Many people in the neighbourhood, including Constantini, assume that Monier has sex with her.
- Not-So-Forgotten Birthday: When Monier go back home in the opening scene, it's dark and silent. He assumes there is nobody, and his birthday is forgotten. He then phones his mistress, not realizing there was a surprise party waiting for him in the next room, and that everybody has hear the conversation.
- Red-and-White Comedy Poster: On the poster, Monier is seriously injured, but he is smiling in front of a classroom full of boisterous teenagers. Above, on a white background, the title is written in black and red.
- Running Gag: Happy Birthday to You! is played when Monier tries to charm a woman.
- Sarcastic Title: The film actually shows how hard it is to be a teacher in some high schools.
- Save Our Students: Monier is assigned to a tough high school. He realizes that most of the students would like to make progress and only a minority disturb the classes. Monier decides to help his students. In the end, they all get good grades.
- Shoutout:
- Monier compares Malou to Cosette.
- When Monier suggests that she might have taken two different shoes to go to the housewarming party, Hélène tells him that he must mistake her for Pierre Richard (who played in The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, in which he wears different-coloured shoes).
- Visit by Divorced Dad: Monier regularly comes to Hélène's flat to see his children. Everytime he tries to charm Hélène.
- White Man's Burden: Monier, the white protagonist, helps his students, who are mainly Arab and black teenagers, to have a good education. In particular, he helps Malou, a black girl. In the end, he even saves her from an attempted rape.
