The Workshop

In the working-class Mediterranean city of La Ciotat, a group of mixed-race students are participating in a writing workshop for young people led by Olivia Dejazet, a Parisian novelist. The class is supposed to work collectively on crime novel, but one of Olivia’s students — the clever and outspoken Antoine, a lonely boy who’s fascinated by violence — opposes the majority's decisions. He writes a realistic story about a mass shooting on a yacht, which the other find chilling in the wake of the terrorist attacks in France over the last couple of years. Antoine also provokes the students who are of Arab origin with his racist remarks, to the point of being expelled temporarily by Olivia. However, Olivia’s interest is piqued, and she develops an interest in the boy. Antoine, despite criticizing one of Olivia’s books, reciprocates, as he spends his evenings stalking her.