An obstinate, serious and bespectacled child realises the dream of all schoolchildren and rebels against the uselessness of school and teachers. The teacher loses face before the parents who are, in the end, happy with their son's victory.

The French title literally means "to hold one's own" and never has a film interpreted this expression more literally. The portrait of this savagely rude boy and the devastating comedy of situation was intended as a note pad from which to work on their feature production of Kafka's "America".