{ "id": "epvatqq7ak", "slug": "voltaire-high", "title": "Voltaire High", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv", "label": "Scripted television and comedy series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series", "label": "Drama and prestige series (individual series)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series.teen-and-coming-of-age-drama", "label": "Teen and coming-of-age drama", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series.teen-and-coming-of-age-drama" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series", "label": "Western Europe · 2021 and later: Drama and prestige series (individual series)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021", "label": "Western Europe · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv", "label": "Scripted television and comedy series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series", "label": "Drama and prestige series (individual series)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Voltaire High (Mixte) is a 2021 French Prime Video period comedy-drama by Marie Roussin: in September 1963, eleven girls join a boys' lycée in Saint-Jean-d'Angély; one season, canceled, Canneséries audience prize.", "snippet": "Voltaire High (Mixte) is a 2021 French Prime Video period comedy-drama by Marie Roussin: in September 1963, eleven girls join a boys' lycée in Saint-Jean-d'Angély; one season, canceled, Canneséries audience prize.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_scripted_tv.drama-prestige-series.teen-and-coming-of-age-drama", "markdown": "# Voltaire High\n\n**Voltaire High** (French: *Mixte*) is a French period comedy-drama television series created by Marie Roussin, released on Amazon Prime Video in 2021. Set in September 1963, it follows the first coeducational year at the lycée Voltaire, a provincial boys' school that admits eleven girls among roughly a hundred male students, and the disruption this causes for the pupils, teachers, and administration.[1](https://www.asachamediagroup.com/fr/shows/voltaire-high-2/) • [2](https://www.letemps.ch/culture/ecrans/mixte-lecon-genres) It was the first French series entirely financed by Amazon.[3](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703672.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Mixte*; the project was first titled *Voltaire* after the school, and the series travels internationally as *Voltaire High*[4](https://www.nrmagazine.com/cinema/titles/7854/mixte) |\n| Format | One season of 8 episodes of about 38 to 40 minutes, broadcast on Prime Video from 14 June 2021[5](https://www.betaseries.com/serie/voltaire-mixte) • [6](https://programmetv.ouest-france.fr/serie/em-mixte-em-la-nouvelle-serie-sixties-damazon-se-penche-dans-la-mixite-sur-les-lycees-7ac675b8-c90c-11eb-92a7-471bc47816ec) |\n| Setting | September 1963, the lycée Voltaire in Saint-Jean-d'Angély (Charente-Maritime), one of the first schools to apply the coeducation reform; 11 girls join about a hundred boys[2](https://www.letemps.ch/culture/ecrans/mixte-lecon-genres) • [7](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18700244.html) |\n| Creator | Marie Roussin, creator and showrunner; produced by En Voiture Simone (Caroline Solanillas and Laurent Ceccaldi) with Autopilot Entertainment[1](https://www.asachamediagroup.com/fr/shows/voltaire-high-2/) |\n| Directors | Alexandre Castagnetti (episodes 1 to 4) and Edouard Salier (episodes 5 to 8)[1](https://www.asachamediagroup.com/fr/shows/voltaire-high-2/) |\n| Main cast | Pierre Deladonchamps, Nina Meurisse, Maud Wyler, Anne Le Ny, Léonie Souchaud, Anouk Villemin, Lula Cotton-Frapier, Nathan Parent, Baptiste Masseline, Gaspard Meier-Chaurand[1](https://www.asachamediagroup.com/fr/shows/voltaire-high-2/) • [8](https://www.a-suivre.org/annuseries/encyclopedie/series.php?series=9983) |\n| Reception and fate | AlloCiné press rating 3.1 out of 5 from 8 reviews; IMDb 7.8/10; audience prize at Canneséries, but not renewed for a second season[9](https://www.allocine.fr/series/ficheserie-25786/critiques/presse/) • [10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11243112/ratings/) • [11](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703598.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise and characters\n\nThe story begins on the first day of the 1963 school year, when girls enter the lycée Voltaire for the first time in its history. The arrival of the eleven students, all in the seconde class, upends daily life: the administration realizes it has not planned girls' toilets, teachers treat the newcomers as distractions or as incapable, and the boys do not know how to behave around them.[7](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18700244.html) • [6](https://programmetv.ouest-france.fr/serie/em-mixte-em-la-nouvelle-serie-sixties-damazon-se-penche-dans-la-mixite-sur-les-lycees-7ac675b8-c90c-11eb-92a7-471bc47816ec)\n\nThree of the new students anchor the narrative. Michèle Magnan, daughter of the local charcutiers, finds herself in the same school as her older brother Jean-Pierre, who watches her closely and resents the boys' attention. Annick Sabiani is determined to prove she is as intelligent as the boys, drawing hostility from some and infatuation from others. Simone Palladino, a pied-noir newly arrived from Algeria, hopes that school life and first love will ease her homesickness.[1](https://www.asachamediagroup.com/fr/shows/voltaire-high-2/) • [6](https://programmetv.ouest-france.fr/serie/em-mixte-em-la-nouvelle-serie-sixties-damazon-se-penche-dans-la-mixite-sur-les-lycees-7ac675b8-c90c-11eb-92a7-471bc47816ec) Among the adults, storylines follow the social worker Laubrac (Gaspard Meier-Chaurand), a teacher's place in society after divorce (Nina Meurisse as Camille Couret), and homosexuality in a society still prudish on the subject (Maud Wyler as Jeanne Bellanger).[1](https://www.asachamediagroup.com/fr/shows/voltaire-high-2/) • [7](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18700244.html)\n\n## Production\n\nMarie Roussin had carried the project, then called *Voltaire Mixte*, for about ten years before Amazon entered the picture. Producer Laurent Ceccaldi of En Voiture Simone, co-producing with Autopilot Entertainment, said traditional linear channels passed on it at a time before Netflix had launched its successful teen series; when Amazon began seeking original French-language content around four years before the release, it accepted the pitch immediately and gave the team artistic freedom.[3](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703672.html)\n\nFilming was scheduled to begin on 18 March 2020, the day production halted across the industry. After a four-month wait, shooting started in early August 2020 under difficult conditions, with suspensions caused by COVID-19 cases among the actors and a dedicated safety team required by Amazon.[3](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703672.html) The crews shot in Saint-Jean-d'Angély in [Charente-Maritime](https://www.edgepedia.org/charente-maritime), chosen for its retro atmosphere.[7](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18700244.html)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nPrime Video put the first four episodes online on 14 June 2021 and the last four a week later, on 21 June.[6](https://programmetv.ouest-france.fr/serie/em-mixte-em-la-nouvelle-serie-sixties-damazon-se-penche-dans-la-mixite-sur-les-lycees-7ac675b8-c90c-11eb-92a7-471bc47816ec) On 8 October 2021 the series won the audience prize for French series of the year at the Canneséries festival.[11](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703598.html)\n\nPress response was mixed but generally favorable, averaging 3.1 out of 5 on AlloCiné across eight reviews. *Les Echos* praised the tone, the ensemble of actors, and the sixties production design; *Paris Match* called it a period series of rare modernity; *Première* credited Roussin with recreating the atmosphere of old France while avoiding parody. *Le Monde* argued the series dusts off the period too quickly and speaks more about the present than the past, citing its anachronistic rock soundtrack; *Télérama* found the halfway position between drama and comedy sanitized the subject; *Le Point* hoped the young cast would grow into the material.[9](https://www.allocine.fr/series/ficheserie-25786/critiques/presse/) Viewers rated it 7.8/10 on IMDb, with episode scores rising from 8.1 for the premiere to 9.2 for the finale.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11243112/ratings/)\n\n## Cancellation\n\nDespite the public and critical reception, Amazon did not renew the series. Actress Maud Wyler announced the decision on Instagram in October 2021. Producer Laurent Ceccaldi said the team was disappointed, that Amazon's audience figures and targets had never been communicated to them, and that Roussin's writers' room had already developed the story arcs for a second season; the producers explored continuing the series in another form.[11](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703598.html) • [3](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703672.html)\n\n## Historical context\n\nThe series is freely inspired by the first experiments with coeducation in French schools, driven by educational reforms of the 1960s, when coeducation was the exception and boys and girls rarely shared classrooms.[4](https://www.nrmagazine.com/cinema/titles/7854/mixte) • [12](https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/pour-ou-contre-la-mixite-au-lycee-reponse-des-interesses-en-1961) In the fiction, the reform is presented as driven by economic necessity: the post-war baby boom had produced more students than the schools could hold, forcing boys' schools to open their doors to girls who also wanted to sit the baccalauréat.[1](https://www.asachamediagroup.com/fr/shows/voltaire-high-2/) • [13](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2021/06/14/mixte-sur-amazon-prime-video-salut-les-copines-ou-les-debuts-de-la-mixite-scolaire_6084085_3246.html) Roussin noted in a 2021 interview that coeducation in French schools did not become mandatory until 1975, twelve years after the series is set.[14](https://www.nova.fr/news/marie-roussin-en-1975-la-mixite-dans-les-etablissement-devenait-obligatoire-149116-02-07-2021/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Mixte, Asacha Media Group](https://www.asachamediagroup.com/fr/shows/voltaire-high-2/)\n2. [«Mixte», leçon en tous genres, Le Temps (18 June 2021)](https://www.letemps.ch/culture/ecrans/mixte-lecon-genres)\n3. [Pas de saison 2 pour Mixte : entretien avec Laurent Ceccaldi, AlloCiné (22 October 2021)](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703672.html)\n4. [Mixte (2021) : casting, distribution et critique, NR Magazine](https://www.nrmagazine.com/cinema/titles/7854/mixte)\n5. [Mixte, BetaSeries](https://www.betaseries.com/serie/voltaire-mixte)\n6. [Mixte, la nouvelle série sixties d'Amazon, Ouest-France (18 June 2021)](https://programmetv.ouest-france.fr/serie/em-mixte-em-la-nouvelle-serie-sixties-damazon-se-penche-dans-la-mixite-sur-les-lycees-7ac675b8-c90c-11eb-92a7-471bc47816ec)\n7. [Mixte sur Prime Video : que vaut cette série rétro ?, AlloCiné (14 June 2021)](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18700244.html)\n8. [Mixte, fiche et distribution, A-suivre](https://www.a-suivre.org/annuseries/encyclopedie/series.php?series=9983)\n9. [Critique presse Mixte, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/series/ficheserie-25786/critiques/presse/)\n10. [Mixte (TV Series 2021) - Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11243112/ratings/)\n11. [Mixte sur Prime Video : pas de saison 2, AlloCiné (18 October 2021)](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18703598.html)\n12. [Pour ou contre la mixité au lycée ? Réponse des intéressés en 1961, INA](https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/pour-ou-contre-la-mixite-au-lycee-reponse-des-interesses-en-1961)\n13. [«Mixte», sur Amazon Prime Video : les débuts de la mixité scolaire, Le Monde (14 June 2021)](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2021/06/14/mixte-sur-amazon-prime-video-salut-les-copines-ou-les-debuts-de-la-mixite-scolaire_6084085_3246.html)\n14. [Marie Roussin : \"En 1975, la mixité devenait obligatoire\", Radio Nova (2 July 2021)](https://www.nova.fr/news/marie-roussin-en-1975-la-mixite-dans-les-etablissement-devenait-obligatoire-149116-02-07-2021/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Drama and prestige series (individual series) › Teen and coming-of-age drama*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/voltaire-high", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/voltaire-high.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Voltaire High\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/voltaire-high. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Voltaire High](https://www.edgepedia.org/voltaire-high)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/voltaire-high](https://www.edgepedia.org/voltaire-high). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Voltaire High\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/voltaire-high. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Voltaire High is a 2021 French Prime Video period comedy-drama by Marie Roussin: in September 1963, eleven girls join a boys' lycée in Saint-Jean-d'Angély; one season, canceled, Canneséries audience prize." }