Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Antoine is about to start his first year of medical school… for the third time. Benjamin, just out of high school, will make his first try. He soon realizes it's not exactly a walk in the park. In a fiercely competitive environment, with nights dedicated to hard studying rather than hard partying, the two freshmen will have to adapt and find a middle ground between despair for the present and hope for the future.
The Freshmen is a competent French comedy-drama about the grueling first year of medical school, with relatable characters and decent performances carrying a fairly familiar underdog/coming-of-age narrative. The dual-protagonist structure (veteran repeater vs. wide-eyed newcomer) gives it some charm, but the story beats are fairly predictable and the premise has been explored in similar academic pressure-cooker films. Cinematography is functional but unremarkable. The ending offers modest emotional payoff without being particularly memorable. Solid but unexceptional across the board.