Le Brio

Le Brio (2017) is a French dramedy from Yvan Attal you can watch online on iFILM. Neila travels in from the Paris suburbs to study law at an elite university. Her very first lecture turns into a public humiliation.

Professor Pierre Mazard is famous for his cutting tongue and for terrorizing students, and he aims a remark that lands as openly racist straight at her in front of the class. The scandal could end his career, so as penance he's ordered to coach that same student for a prestigious public-speaking contest. From there it becomes a duel of wits: a cynical old master and a stubborn young woman from a working-class Algerian family who can't stand each other, until they start to listen. Daniel Auteuil and Camélia Jordana carry the whole thing between them.

Attal makes a film about the power of speech — how rhetoric, logic and one well-built sentence can flip an argument and a life. Jordana earned a César nomination for Most Promising Actress for this. One for fans of smart, talky dramas like Good Will Hunting, where the debate matters more than any chase. Stream Le Brio (2017) online on iFILM.