to the conservatory, and Rachin was fired after his fellow teachers exposed his abuse towards the students. Mathieu, Pépinot relates, continued to give music lessons quietly for the rest of his life. The final scene (in the past again) shows Mathieu waiting for his bus after being fired. As he boards it, he looks back and finds Pépinot running after him, insisting that he come too. Initially, Mathieu refuses because it is not allowed, and he leaves Pépinot behind. Suddenly, the bus stops and Mathieu gives in: the two board the bus together. Pépinot finally got his wish, for he and Mathieu left on a Saturday, and Mathieu raised him. Cast Gérard Jugnot as Clement Mathieu, a supervisor and failed musician François Berléand as Rachin, the strict headmaster of Fond de L'Étang Jean-Baptiste Maunier as Pierre Morhange, a poorly behaved boy with a beautiful singing voice Jacques Perrin as adult Morhange, now a popular conductor Maxence Perrin as Pépinot, a young boy who refuses to believe his parents are dead Didier Flamand as adult Pépinot Kad Merad as Chabert, a physical education teacher Jean-Paul Bonnaire as Maxence, the school's elderly caretaker Marie Bunel as Violette Morhange, the single mother of Pierre as Mondain, a troubled and malevolent older boy Cyril Bernicot as Le Querrec, the perpetrator of a booby trap which injures Maxence Production Development After making the short film Les Tombales, director Christophe Barratier was looking for a subject for his first feature film. He noticed that many of his ideas were linked to his childhood, and the emotions he felt between the ages of four and eight. Coming from a musical background, he also wanted to tell a story linked to music. The themes of childhood and music made him think of the film La Cage aux rossignols, which he had seen on television at a young age and which "touched [him] profoundly". Barratier told his idea to Gérard Jugnot, whom he had known for quite a long time and with whom he shared a taste for old French cinema and actors such as Noël-Noël; Jugnot liked it but thought that the film would have to be set in the past, otherwise his character would be transformed into someone who "teaches rapping in the suburbs". Barratier said he did not think about setting the film in the present time because "Clément Mathieu [would have] other priorities, he would