La Maternelle (International title: Children of Montmartre) is a 1933 French film directed and written by Jean Benoît-Lévy and Marie Epstein.

Despite this, La Maternelle ultimately finds its way to a happy ending, with Rose becoming engaged to Dr. Libois and being hired as a teacher at the school.

[8] Acting as directors and screenwriters, La Maternelle was one of the films that emerged from the collaboration between Epstein and Benoît-Lévy that lasted more than a decade.

[10] Paul Rotha in, “Sight and Sound” praises La Maternelle and other pictures of the time for its use of child actors to contribute to an understanding of child-psychology, calling it “one of the best films to come from France for many months.”[11] From its directors, Benoit- Lévy and Marie Epstein, the film’s natural acting by its child actors is praised for its realism and portrayal of child-welfare.

This article commends the film's depiction of the "children's mind" and their perspective on school life, which was an infrequent theme at the time.

Additionally, the acting performance, specifically by Paulette Elambert who plays Marie is noted by many as some of the best cinema had seen in that period.

[12] In his Sept 7, 1933 review, Lucien Wahl extols Elambert’s emotional range and her performative ability to bring to life feelings of friendship, affection, and jealousy in the character Marie.

The score included music by Alice Verlay who wrote the song that Rose sang to the children in the classroom.

[7] Marie sees the reflection of Rose and her new potential lover, Dr. Libois, in the same window in which she saw her mother with the man she left with at the beginning of the film.

This theme is continued when Marie looks in the water and sees the reflection of two lovers, prompting her subsequent suicide attempt in an effort to erase these images that haunt her.

[6] In 1935, the New York Times called it "a film of extraordinary insight, tenderness and tragic beauty", adding "Mr. Benoit-Levy presents a heart-breaking cross-section of this tatterdemalion kindergarten in such minor portraits as the little boy who has never learned how to smile.

He applauds directors Jean Benoît-Levy and Marie Epstein for getting many intelligent children together and producing a touching film conveying "discreet emotions".

It stated that "the picture is notable for its brilliant treatment of the child's mind", and described the final scene as "being among the high spots of the year's cinema", but was not shy to say the film is "the child-picture to end chid-pictures for the time being".