The History Boys Free
- Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rating IMDb: 68
- Year: 2006
- Duration: 1:49
Summaries
An unruly class of gifted and charming teenage boys are taught by two eccentric and innovative teachers, as their headmaster pushes for them all to get accepted into Oxford or Cambridge.
In 1980s Britain, a group of young men at Cutlers' Grammar School all have the brains, and the will to earn the chance of getting accepted in the finest universities in the nation, Oxford and Cambridge. Despite the fine teaching by excellent professionals like Mrs. Dorothy Lintott (Frances de la Tour) in history and the intellectually enthusiastic Mr. Hector (Richard Griffiths) in General Studies, the Headmaster (Clive Merrison) is not satisfied. He signs on the young Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore) to polish the students' style to give them the best chance. In this mix of intellectualism and creative spirit that guides a rigorous preparation regime for that ultimate educational brass ring, the lives of the randy students and the ostensibly restrained faculty intertwine that would change their lives forever.
When a 1980s class achieves the best scores ever at Cutlers' Grammar School for boys in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, the petty Headmaster (Clive Merrison), who craves the prestige like the parents, recruits a young Oxford graduate, Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore), to prepare them for the general entry exams for the world class universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He stresses that takes not just delivering what all schools prepare for, but, if they even really want to go, standing out by a different approach and perspective: surprising quotations and associations, the other side of the coin, witty phrasing. Actually good foundations were laid by the current staff, less by history teacher Dorothy Lintott (Frances de la Tour), a frustrated liberal feminist without actual impact, than by the enthusiasm-arousing Mr. Hector (Richard Griffiths) in General Studies, who gets their attention and makes them think through literature, open discussion, role-play, and performing declamation and song, at both of which the only Jewish (like the Muslim, fully integrated) boy, sensitive gentle gay David Posner (Samuel Barnett), excels. Alas, when the Headmaster learns that the caring, paternal Mr. Hector once innocently touched a boy's privates, he insists on a "graceful" early retirement, a personal drama with surprising twists in the end. Meanwhile, the irresistible class flirt, Dakin (Dominic Cooper), skilfully tests all borders including his and Irwin's sexual orientation, and all consider for what they really aspire and care, in studies and life.
It's 1983 at Cutlers Grammar School, a boys school in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. A group of eight upperclassmen have obtained the highest A-level scores ever for the school and aspire to enter either Oxford or Cambridge. Helping them prepare for the university entrance exam are two of their regular teachers, Mrs. Dorothy Lintott (Frances de la Tour), the feminist no-nonsense History teacher, and Mr. Hector (Richard Griffiths), the General Studies teacher who holds his seemingly unstructured classes more like theatrical productions, where students often perform scenes from classic movies. But believing the boys are crass and uncultured, the school's arrogant Headmaster (Clive Merrison) believes they require additional coaching to give them what he calls "an edge". As such, he hires Mr. Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore), a recent Oxford graduate, who teaches them to question all conventional academic material taught to them, and whenever possible take a counter stance to stand out from the crowd. Irwin, Hector, and Lintott's teaching are often at odds with each other as are the Headmaster's wants. Although the teachers' personal lives rarely enter the school, the rides home that Hector gives to the boys on his motorcycle and the adoration that Dakin (Dominic Cooper), the class ladies man, has on Irwin may provide a little insight into those personal lives. The latter is much to the chagrin of another of the boys, the young Posner (Samuel Barnett), who believes he is gay, wants to be gay, and is openly in love with Dakin.
A select number of boys, who managed to achieve grades which merit an application to Oxford or Cambridge in their A-Levels, experience a term of revelation at their grammar school as they are tutored for the "most important exam of their lives" in history.
