How to Be a Good Wife

Paulette Van Der Beck and her husband have been running the housekeeping school of Bitche in Alsace for many years. Their mission is to train teenage girls to become the perfect housewives at a time when women were expected to be subservient to their husband. After the sudden death of her husband, Paulette discovers that the school is on the verge of bankruptcy and has to take her responsibilities. But while preparations are underway for the best housekeeping competition TV show, she and her lively students start questioning their beliefs as the nation-wide protests of May 1968 transform society around them. Reunited with her first love, André, and with the help of her eccentric stepsister Gilberte and strict nun Marie-Therese, Paulette joins forces with the schoolgirls to overcome their suppressed status and become liberated women.

Cast

Juliette Binoche

Paulette Van Der Beck

Yolande Moreau

Gilberte Van der Beck

Noémie Lvovsky

Marie-Therese

Édouard Baer

André Grunvald

François Berléand

Robert Van der Beck

Marie Zabukovec

Annie Fuchs

Anamaria Vartolomei

Albane Des-deux-Ponts

Lily Taïeb

Yvette Ziegler

Pauline Briand

Corinne Schwartz

Armelle

Christiane Rougemont

Marine Berlanger

Residential school student

Clémence Blondeau

Residential school student