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Movies like Once in a Lifetime

Key Features:
Inspirational, Underdog story, Teacher-student relationship, Education, Social commentary, Cultural diversity, Teamwork, Competition, French cinema
Tone:
earnest, humorous, dramatic
Target Audience:
Drama viewers, Inspirational movie fans, Educational themes enthusiasts, French cinema aficionados
Emotional Arc:
Apathy → Motivation → Triumph

Once in a Lifetime

2014-12-03
Once in a Lifetime Poster - Find Similar Movies

At Léon Blum High School in Créteil, France, a history teacher decides to have her weakest 10th grade class participate in a national history competition.

Genres
Drama
Cast
Ariane Ascaride, Ahmed Dramé, Noémie Merlant, Geneviève Mnich, Stéphane Bak, Wendy Nieto, Aïmen Derriachi, Mohamed Seddiki, Adrien Hurdubae, Alicia Dadoun
Crew
Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Ahmed Dramé
Rating
7.389(324 votes)
Once in a LifetimeOnce in a Lifetime
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School Life
6.892

In one of the poorest areas of Paris, a school counselor devotes herself to working with disadvantaged students, while facing challenges of her own.



Le Brio
Le Brio(2017)
7

After an incident, a brilliant professor known for his outbursts is forced to mentor the student he wronged for a speech contest.



The Teacher
6.547

Teacher in the most prestigious highschool in the country, François enjoys the life he’s always known, in the intellectual and bourgeois society of Paris. Trapped in a situation where he’s forced to accept a job in a school of a tough underprivileged suburb, he finds himself confronted to his own limits and to the upheaval of his values and certainties.



Freedom Writers
7.9

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.



The Class
The Class(2008)
7

Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.



Latin for All
5.142

Delphine, a disillusioned humanities teacher, makes an agreement with her students : they leave her in peace, as they get A+ grades. But these excellent results turn into a nightmare when the class is qualified for the Latin World Championships, in Naples.



Orchestra Class
6.333

A violinist looks to inspire his students at a challenging music school.



Two Much for the Job

After five years enduring horrible work conditions, Sophia finally gets chosen for a long-awaited transfer from her thankless teaching job at a rough middle school. Ecstatic to start a new life teaching at the French Lycée in Barcelona, her hopes are dashed to bits when a well- connected, over-qualified teacher at an upscale Paris school cuts in to take the position. Determined to stand her ground, Sophia and her clever neighbour Mr. Picard join forces to sabotage her competitor’s candidacy.



Queens of The Field

After its football team is disqualified for insulting a referee during a major game, a small country town risks losing its funding along with its field. To avoid this disaster, there is only one solution: creating a new team made up exclusively of women to defend the city’s colors! But in a community where football has always been an activity reserved for men, these women’s new status will be sure to shake up the daily lives of the town’s residents…



The Path of Excellence

Sophie is a brilliant student. Encouraged by her maths teacher, she leaves the family farm to attend a science preparatory class. Between new encounters, successes and failures, and faced with fierce competition, Sophie realizes that her dream of joining the Polytechnique represents more than an entrance examination but a true challenge of social climbing.



Critical Thinking
6.569

Based on a true story from 1998, five Latino and Black teenagers from the toughest underserved ghetto in Miami fight their way into the National Chess Championship under the guidance of their unconventional but inspirational teacher.



The Winning Season
6.354

A comedy centered on a has-been coach who is given a shot at redemption when he's asked to run his local high school's girls basketball team



Elementary
6.6

Florence is a school teacher devoted to her students. When she encounters young Sacha, a child with problems, she will do everything she can to help him, even to the point of neglecting her own children, her own life, and of questioning her vocation. Little by little Florence realizes that learning has no age limit.



Race the Sun
5.1

A bunch of high school misfits in Hawaii, introduced by their new teacher, attend a science fair in which they draw up inspiration to build their own solar car and win a trip to compete in the 1990 World Solar Challenge in Australia.



A Mighty Team
5.437

Sadoun is France’s best soccer player whose extra-curriculum pleasures are damaging his play and new contract negotiations. Dispatched by his scheming agent to his home village, he ends up reconciling with his father, relating to his fatherless niece, who dotes on him, and training his local children’s team, whom he takes to championship glory.



Take the Lead
6.9

A former professional dancer volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system and, while his background first clashes with his students' tastes, together they create a completely new style of dance. Based on the story of ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulane.



The World Petanque Tour

Momo has one dream buried for years: become a petanque champion. When an international tournament is announced, he drops his ordinary life to win the first prize and fulfill his dreams.



Mention particulière

Laura, 21, is determined to earn her High school diploma, just like anyone else. Except Laura is a bit different. She has Down syndrome. As she faces her own difficulties, she must also deal with the doubts of her loved ones and the occasional cruelty of her peers. Overcoming challenge after challenge between emotion and laughter, Laura battles for every inch of an opportunity that life tries to keep from her. Like a movie in which disability brings a fresh perspective on life challenges and the pursuit of happiness.



Battle of the Year
6.8

A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.



The Best Job in the World

To be closer to his children following his divorce, Laurent Monier, a history and geography teacher in a peaceful provincial high school, accepts a position in a sensitive college in the Paris suburbs. He is assigned the hardest class, the fourth techno, and he finds an apartment in the Cité des Muriers, a particularly difficult district.



The First Grader
7.1

The true story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.



Battle: Freestyle
5.537

Amalie and Mikael lead their street dance team to the finals in France but tough competition and personal distractions threaten to ruin their dreams.



The Chorus
7.729

In 1940s France, a new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration.



P.R.O.F.S.
6.123

A clique of four young teachers at a high school looks critically at their colleagues. To avoid falling in the same routine, they bring new ideas into the school lessons and play little games and pranks in their spare time -- sometimes get even more childish than their pupils. When they get opposition from the other teachers, they play tricks to get rid of them.



The Small Victories
6.713

Between her roles as mayor and teacher in the small village of Kerguen, Alice's days are very full. When an unexpected new student, 60-year-old Emile, finally decides to learn to read and write, her daily life threatens to become unmanageable. Especially since Alice will also have to save her village and her school...



My First Time
6.566

Zachary is 20 years old. Dark and independent, he collects amorous conquests and school failure. Sarah is 18 years old. First class, fragile, she fills her emotional gaps with perfect control of his life. Nothing should close and yet, the year of the tank, for six months, they will live a love against which nothing can be, the true, the big one that marks a life forever.



High School High
5.448

Richard Clark has just left the well-known Wellington Academy to teach at Marion Barry High School. Now, he will try to inspire the D-average students into making good grades and try to woo a fellow teacher.



Lessons of a Dream
6.9

An English teacher brings soccer to a German school in the 19th Century.



Hurricane Season
6.6

Based on true events amid the wreckage and chaos dealt by Hurricane Katrina; one basketball coach in Marrero, Louisiana just will not give up. Coach Al Collins, gathers other players from hard-hit schools and builds a team actually worthy enough to go to the state playoffs.



Not My Type
6.208

Clement, a young philosophy teacher, is sent to Arras for a year. He meets Jennifer, a pretty hair stylist, and the two freely share their hearts and bodies as they try to overcome the cultural and social divide between them.



French Women
5.757

A story about 11 girls living in Paris. Each of them has its own problems: career, love life, children. Every girl has their complexes and virtues. They always look elegant, hiding their inner feelings. Will they reach all the goals and overcome all their difficulties?



Jealous
Jealous(2017)
5.9

A divorced teacher suddenly becomes jealous of everyone, including her daughter, friends and neighbors.



Never in My Life!
6.5

Judyta is a middle-aged housewife whose peaceful life suddenly falls apart due to divorce. But soon she finds the strength to carry on fighting for her happiness, a place in the sun and love of her life.



A Man and a Woman
7.3

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.



Le Panache
6.598

Colin, 14, enters a new school and he's freaking out: how do you get by when, like him, you're a stutterer? His meeting with Mr. Devarseau, a charismatic French teacher, will push him to face his fears and break out of his isolation. Now Colin has a group of friends and a project: to go on stage to play Cyrano in front of the whole school.



Maria Montessori
7.017

Set in 1900, Lili d’Alengy, a Parisian cocotte at the height of her fame, flees Paris to hide her “idiot” daughter. There she meets Maria Montessori, who is pioneering a teaching method that may help the child.



School Is Over
5.451

Agathe Langlois, Parisian until the end of the nails well varnishes, is delighted: she is going to be confirmed as a professor of English. The happiness of the good news will not last as she learns that she is deployed to the countryside.



Words and Pictures
6.4

An art instructor and an English teacher form a rivalry that ends up with a competition at their school in which students decide whether words or pictures are more important.



Hear Me Out
6.3

Antoine, a history teacher in his early 50s, learns that he has become very hard of hearing. Unable to own up to his handicap, he resigns himself to living in his bubble, even though his entourage finds his behavior increasingly odd. His encounter with Claire, widow and mother of a young girl who has stopped speaking, will lead him to open up to the world. 



Radical
Radical(2023)
8.4

In a Mexican border town plagued by neglect, corruption, and violence, a frustrated teacher tries an unorthodox new method to break through his students’ apathy and unlock their curiosity, their potential... and perhaps even their genius.



Work It
Work It(2020)
7.5

A brilliant but clumsy high school senior vows to get into her late father's alma mater by transforming herself and a misfit squad into dance champions.



Monsieur Lazhar
7.157

During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.



A Real Job
6.317

Benjamin is a PhD student without scholarship support. Under the pressure of his parents, and in need of money, he becomes a substitute teacher in a middle school. Without training nor experience, and facing a declining public educational system, he discovers how tough this job can be. Hopefully, his supportive and committed colleagues will lead him to take a fresh look at the profession.



Ducobu 4 President
4.2

Ducobu is elected president of the school, much to Léonie and Latouche's despair!



Fatima
Fatima(2015)
6.2

Fatima, an Algerian-born woman who now lives in France with her two teenage daughters, with whom she is barely able to communicate.



15 Minutes of War
6.8

February 1976. Somalian rebels hijack a school bus carrying 21 French children and their teacher in Djibouti City. When the terrorists drive it to a no-man’s-land on the border between Somalia and French territory, the French Government sends out a newly formed elite squad to rescue the hostages. Within a few hours, the highly trained team arrives to the crisis area, where the Somalian National Army has taken position behind the barbed wire on the border. The French unit is left with very few options to rescue the hostages. As the volatile situation unravels, the French men quickly come up with a daring plan: carry out a simultaneous 5 men sniper attack to get the children and the teacher out safely. A true story.



Placés
Placés(2022)
7.2

Because he forgot his identity card, Elias cannot take the entrance exam to Sciences Po. In search of a job while waiting to be able to take the exam again, he becomes an educator in a children's home. Confronted with an environment he doesn't know how to work, Elias doesn't yet know how much this experience will change his life.



The Dream Team
5.028

A former footballer living in Brittany enlists his old teammates to help the local fisherman to win some games in order to raise money and save jobs.



Angélique
6.451

The incredible destiny of Angélique: a beautiful girl who found in her love for Joffrey Peyrac the strength to fight injustice and submission in a century plagued by power struggles, inequality and the oppression.



Girls und Panzer der Film

When the Ministry of Education goes back on its promise to keep Ooarai Girls Academy open, the task of saving the five-mile-long Academy Ship from the wreckers falls to Miho and her barely-seasoned tankery team. However, things go off track almost immediately. While the Oorai tank crew may have won the high school tournament, they’re now facing a larger and more experienced university team, and if they fail, their armored vehicles will be forfeit! Will they be swapping their tanks for the memories? It’s possible, but winning a tank battle is all about tactics and teamwork, and the fledgling Ooarai students have more friends and allies than anyone suspects.



Marie's Story
7.443

Marie Heurtin is born both blind and deaf. Sister Marguerette wins her trust and teaches her how to express herself.



Romance
Romance(1999)
5.451

Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.



1:54
1:54(2016)
6.6

Tim, a shy 16-year-old athlete with a natural gift for running, is dealing with the loss of his mother, as well as his sexuality. After a personal video is posted to social media, Tim's private life is about to explode into the public eye.



Antoine Griezmann: The Making of a Legend

With heart and determination, Antoine Griezmann overcame his small stature to become one of the world's top soccer players and a World Cup champion.



An Indian Tale
6

The life of two men changed unexpectedly when Ajith, an Indian sailor who was robbed and lost everything, appears out of nowhere in front of Pierre, a single and grumpy Frenchman.



Full Time
Full Time(2022)
7.028

Julie finally gets an interview for a job where she can raise her children better only to run into a national transit strike.



Wildcats
Wildcats(1986)
6.3

High school track coach Molly McGrath knows just as much about football as anyone else on the planet. When a football coach's position becomes vacant, she applies for the job, despite snickers from fellow staff members and her former husband.



Little Spirou
5.129

Petit Spirou, like all his family before him, has a career destiny all traced. When his mother announces that he will integrate the grooms school at the beginning of the new school year, Petit Spirou, with the help of his friends, will take advantage of his last days of class to declare his love to Suzette. And no matter how. They decide to live an extraordinary adventure.



It All Starts Today

In a mining town which has been blighted by economic downturns, an elementary school headmaster struggles to obtain social services on behalf of his students.



Skirt Day
Skirt Day(2008)
7.082

A teacher, driven to exasperation from insults and insubordination, takes her class hostage.



Toni
Toni(2023)
6.614

Toni has spent her entire life putting other people’s needs before her own. When she was 20 years old, she was pushed by her mother to join a TV singing competition, becoming a national star. Twenty years and five children later, she is a full-time mom who spends all her time and effort on raising her teenage kids. As she helps her children plan their future after graduation, she begins to imagine what her life could be if - for once - she did what she really wanted. Will she be able to turn her life around and dare to be something other than a mother and a daughter?



Winning Streak
5.3

Winning Streak is the astonishing story of a group of young down-and-outs who are presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; to change their luck and set off on the adventure of their lives. Thanks to an infallible method based on the roulette wheel’s imperfection, their lifestyle is about to become better than their wildest dreams, as they set out to break the banks at casinos around the world.



Flo
Flo(2023)
6

World premiering on the Plage, it tells the story of « the little fiancée of the Atlantic », who’s career reached its peak with her victory of the Route du Rhum in 1990.



School's Out
6

Pierre Hoffman joins a prestigious school as a substitute teacher and soon notices, among some of his students, an unjustified hostility and a spark of violence in their eyes. Is it because the unspeakable tragedy they have just experienced? Is it because they seem to be extraordinarily gifted children? Is it because they have lost all hope for the future? From curiosity to obsession, Pierre will try to unlock their secret.



Rudy
Rudy(1993)
7.347

Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team.



Flying Colors
7.5

A high school girl, Sayaka Kudō was the bottom of the class. After a year, she improved her deviation value from 30 to 70, then passed Keio University that is considered one of the most difficult to enter in Japan.



Queens of the Ring
5.8

More than anything, 30-year-old Rose longs to be reunited with Mickaël, her estranged 11-year-old son who has been placed with a foster family and blames his mother for their long separation. When she discovers that Mickaël is crazy about wrestling, Rose thinks she's found a way to melt the ice: she'll put together a tag team with three girlfriends from the store where all four work as checkout girls...



United Passions
3.3

An epic, untold story that brings to life the inspiring saga of the World Cup and the three determined men who created it. Driven by their vision and passion, three men, overcame their doubts and fought obstacles and scandals to make the World Cup a reality. Spanning the tumultuous 20th Century, this timeless saga celebrates the event that became the most popular sporting event in the world.



Serial Teachers
5.439

With only 12 percent of its pupils obtaining their baccalaureate, Jules Ferry High School is the worst school in France. The Inspector of Schools has already exhausted all the conventional means to raise standards at the school and he has no choice but to take the advice of his deputy. It is a case of having to fight fire with fire: the worst pupils must be taught by the worst teachers...



White Bird
7.849

After being expelled from Beecher Prep for his treatment of a classmate with a facial deformity, Julian has struggled to fit in at his new school. To transform his life, Julian's grandmother finally reveals her own story of courage of her youth in Nazi-occupied France, where a classmate shelters her from mortal danger.



Here Comes the Boom
6.218

A high school biology teacher moonlights as a mixed-martial arts fighter in an effort to raise money to save the school's music program.



Cineman
Cineman(2009)
2.9

A maths teacher acquires the power to travel into movies to save the woman of his dreams and bring her back to her correct film.



School of Life
6.396

At Fallbrook Middle School, the annual student-elected Teacher of the Year award is held. And every year for the last 43 years Norman Warner or most fondly called Stormin' Norman Warner has won the award. Now that he has died, the burden of carrying the legacy falls into the hands of Matt Warner, the son of the late Norman Warner who has always lived in the shadow of his father.



Tenor
Tenor(2022)
7.021

While working part-time as a food deliveryman, Antoine, an aspiring young rapper from the suburbs of Paris, meets Mrs. Loiseau, an eminent teacher at the Paris Opéra. Stunned by the young man's raw talent, she introduces him to the world of opera. As Antoine becomes one of Mrs. Loiseau's students, he hides his new dream from his friends and family, fearing that they won’t understand – this double life burdens him... Somewhere in between the gilded and uptight Parisian upper-class, and the harsh yet free-spirited and familiar suburbs he grew up in, Antoine will have to find his own voice.



Parisienne
5.9

18-year-old Lina arrives in Paris for her studies. She comes to look for what she has never found in Lebanon, her country of origin: a certain form of freedom. The survival instinct as the only baggage, she sails from one Paris to another to the rhythm of her romantic encounters.



A Second Chance
6

A young girl and her coach overcome adversity to make their way into the National Australian Gymnastics Squad.



La scuola
La scuola(1995)
6.8

In a high school in the outskirts of Rome, it's the last day before the summer holidays. A literature teacher reminisces the past year and wonders what will become of the students he cared for as if they were his children.



Dangerous Minds
7

Former Marine Louanne Johnson lands a gig teaching in a pilot program for bright but underachieving teens at a notorious inner-city high school. After having a terrible first day, she decides she must throw decorum to the wind. When Johnson returns to the classroom, she does so armed with a no-nonsense attitude informed by her military training and a fearless determination to better the lives of her students -- no matter what the cost.



Tour de Force
5.516

François decides to participate in the Tour de France alone, inspiring a wave of media enthusiasm, much to the chagrin of the Tour's pros.



Won't Back Down
6.1

Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.



Marinette
Marinette(2023)
6.493

Born in 1975, Marinette Pichon was a born soccer player. Raised by a courageous mother who had to deal with an abusive husband, she overcame difficulties and developed unwavering determination. While juggling odd jobs and her sporting career, she was selected for the French national team and then spotted by a major American club. Marinette then moved to the United States with her mother, pursuing her dream of becoming the best player in the world.



SODA: le rêve américain

Everything is going wrong for Adam: he just failed his baccalaureate, his friends Slimane and Ludovic are about to go their separate ways, his girlfriend is leaving him for another guy, and his parents are constantly arguing. Sinking into despair, the young man regains hope when he discovers a contest where the winner gets a one-year visa to the United States—the place he should have gone on vacation if he had passed his exam.



Timeline
Timeline(2003)
5.7

A group of archaeological students become trapped in the past when they go there to retrieve their professor. The group must survive in 14th century France long enough to be rescued.



Beating Hearts
7.192

Local rebellious teenager Clotaire falls for his schoolmate Jackie, but gang violence leads him to a darker destructive path. After years apart, the star-crossed lovers discover that every path they've taken leads them back together.



School of Life
7.338

Paris 1930. Paul has only ever had one and the same horizon: the high walls of the orphanage, an austere building in the Parisian working class suburbs. Entrusted to a joyful country woman, Célestine, and her husband, Borel, the rather stiff gamekeeper of a vast estate in Sologne, the city child, recalcitrant and stubborn, arrives in a mysterious and disturbing world, that of a sovereign and wild region. The huge forest, misty ponds, heaths, and fields all belong to the Count de la Fresnaye, an elderly taciturn man who lives alone in his manor.



The Longshots
6.4

The true story of Jasmine Plummer who, at the age of eleven, became the first female to play in Pop Warner football tournament in its 56-year history.



Cartagena
Cartagena(2009)
5.594

Muriel is beautiful, free-spirited and bed-ridden since a horrific accident. Leo is a drunk middle-aged ex-boxer. Desperate for work and unqualified, he interviews for Muriel, who hires him to cook and care for her against her better judgment. Initially out of his depth, Leo slowly wins Muriel's trust. As Muriel teaches him to read, he forces her to confront the joys beyond her window.



Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

In 1890s India, an arrogant British commander challenges the harshly taxed residents of Champaner to a high-stakes cricket match.



In the House
7.2

A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his French teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, but the boy’s intrusion will unleash a series of uncontrollable events.



A Woman's Life
5.6

Normandy, 1819. Jeanne is a young woman full of childish dreams and innocence when she returns home after finishing her schooling in a convent. She marries a local Viscount, Julien de Lamare, who soon reveals himself to be a miserly and unfaithful man. Little by little Jeanne’s illusions are stripped away.



Lucie Aubrac
6.421

A love story or a tale of the resistance, this poignant movie tells both the haunting story of a French resistance cell in Lyon but also the love of Lucie Aubrac for her husband...



McFarland, USA
7.468

A track coach in a small California town transforms a team of athletes into championship contenders.



Battle of the Classes
5.832

As everyone knows, children make no difference between social classes, skin colors or religions. But then why does Corentin, Paul and Sofia's nine-year-old son, only have friends like him at Bagnolet's school? And when his friends all leave for a private school in Paris, his parents are frightened. From now on, Corentin is the only one in his class. But the only what?



Best of the Best
6.5

A team from the United States is going to compete against Korea in a Tae Kwon Do tournament. The team consists of fighters from all over the country--can they overcome their rivalry and work together to win?



School's Out
5.827

A few days before the baccalaureate, a high school student decides to settle accounts with the most cowardly teacher in the school.



A Self-Made Hero
6.8

Set in France at the end of World War II Albert Dehousse finds out his father wasn't a war hero and his mother is a collaborator.



The School Teacher
6.021

After having lost his job for having saved a child accused of shop lifting, Frédéric Barbier decides to become a school teacher with some funny results.The great comedy actor Coluche is excellent as a simple school teacher.



Leila
Leila(2011)
6

Gab has a well-ordered life: a fiancée, a wealthy family. Leïla, who struggles to juggle her studies, odd jobs, and a brother to support, does not allow herself to live her own life... When Gab meets Leïla, it is a clash of worlds, the beginning of a great love story that will collide violently with reality.



Back of the Net
6.7

A new student at a soccer academy is determined to beat her rival's team in the national tournament.

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