First and foremost, The House of Awakening is the school created during the 1930’s by educationalist Célestin Freinet, a place to develop the personality through active methods, inspiring many teaching reforms. It is also the school of Madeleine, aged 79, who teaches in a small village in the Gers region of France. She describes how she has applied Freinet’s methods troughout her career. Former pupils explain how this type of education has changed them forever. Apart from telling her life story, the film reveals the wealth of inventiveness, strictness and generosity shown by Freinet’s disciples. It reminds us how much can be achieved when both the spirit of resistance and the humanist ideal set in motion an ambitious and consistent teaching project.