Film: The Class

Cast includes: Francois Bégaudeau
Genre: Drama, French with subtitles

In brief: Dolto High, in Paris’s 20th arrondissement, is not an easy school for a teacher. At the start of the school year teachers compare notes on which students are nice and which aren’t. Students come prepared to challenge even the most patient of teachers. Mr. Marin, the French teacher, has the patients of a saint. Or so it would seem. But there isn’t a molecule of knowledge that doesn’t get challenged by his students… not on accuracy, but on relevance. He tries to teach the imperfect subjunctive… they say it’s a waste of time because no one they know uses that form. He makes up a sentence to illustrate a word… they want to know why he always uses “Bill” as the subject and not Fatou or Aïssata. Yikes! It’s challenging to teach in such an ethnically mixed school.

After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, Mr. Marin asks his students to write their own “self-portrait.” The resistance is overwhelming. “We’re too young to have anything interesting to write about.” “I don’t want other people to know anything about me.” “Why are you picking on us?” On parent’s conference day, it is obvious that many of these students get very little support from their immigrant parents, who have issues of their own.

Francois Bégaudeau, who wrote the book and screenplay based on his own teaching experiences, plays the role of Mr. Marin. High school students, not actors, play the students in the film. Taking a full school year to shoot the film, director Laurent Cantet decided to shoot scenes in an improvisational style. This gives The Class its documentary feel. Unlike typical classroom dramas, where students overcome great adversity to meet a challenge, The Class is more grounded in reality. Some students do well while others struggle, without much hope for success in school… or in life.

popcorn rating