Review of Monsieur Lazhar (2011) by Graham K — 27 Oct 2012

This is a gentle and understated movie but one that is completely powerful nonetheless. The story is very sweet but without becoming schmaltzy or overly sentimental. I think that the movie takes an interesting look at the student-teacher relationship at a moment when the students are facing the tragedy of having to deal with their past teacher hanging herself in the room.

And how that affects how they react to Bachir and how he, also dealing with his own personal tragedy, reacts to the kids and genuinely wishes to help them deal with their grief in a way that the school does not allow.

And Bachir's reasons for teaching are definitely very subtle but it does tie to what happened to his wife and the way he uses his teaching as a way to deal with his grief but also maintain a connection to his wife even after her passing.

So there is a lot of subtext in this film, and if you're not paying attention you won't get any of it. But it's great to see a film that engages you in such a manner. It's far more rewarding as a viewer.

The ending, for example, was really emotionally rewarding because a lot of the subtext involved. Perhaps if the movie said this explicitly, the ending may not have been as rewarding. Of course a movie dealing with such a serious subject requires talented actors.

The movie focuses mostly on Bachir (Mohamed Fellag), Alice (Sophie Nelisse) and Simon (Emilien Neron). And they all deliver, especially the kids. Because Mohamed, while doing a really great job, his performance is mostly very understated.

The kids are the ones who really carry the bigger task of selling you on their grief and sadness over the death of their teacher. These kids do an excellent job of doing just that. Whether it's anger and blaming someone who had nothing to do with her death (as Alice blames Simon for her death) or just acting out because that's the way you can deal with her death (Simon), these kids get these roles down perfectly.

Especially, the one scene when Simon finally lets out all his frustrations over Martine's (the teacher) death and Alice blaming him for it, Emilien was tremendous in this scene. It's particularly impressive because they never cut away from him during this climactic moment, so you can see that they didn't edit together the scene to make it seem like he was good, the boy was really that damn good in that scene.

The direction is gentle, as is the story, it's clear that much care was taken to craft this film. It's just a really excellent movie from top-to-bottom. I'd highly recommend it.