Review of The Class (2007) by Katie R — 19 Aug 2009

"I'm Souleyman, I have nothing to say about me because no one knows me but me.".

Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.

REVIEW.

The Class ('Entre Les Murs') is more of an experience than a film. Based on the book 'Entre Les Murs' by teacher François Bégaudeau who also wrote the screenplay and stars in the film as the unique teacher François Marin, this thoughtful and challenging story is presented in a style that could only be termed 'French verismo'. If it feels like a documentary for the first part, that is to the credit of the author and the director Laurent Cantet: we, the viewers are taken into the classroom where the majority of the film takes place, lingering there through discussions between teacher and the varied ethnic group of students who challenge (with good thought) the teaching techniques and subjects of discussion in Marin's days of attempting to 'educate' a somewhat reluctant audience. The subject of the course may be French, but the incongruities of language spread into areas of conflict of the meaning of words and the 'out of date' subjects of grammar that occupy Marin's course outline.

Another fascinating aspect of this film about education in schools populated by 'difficult students' is the use of the device of entr'acte - diversions from the classroom into the teachers' lounge where we learn even more about the education and varied sociological systems and age and experience differences among the faculty influence that is at the core of this film. It all sounds and seems so extemporaneous that it makes the messages conveyed all the more powerful. Many will find this film too 'talky': there are almost no excursions outside the school and certainly no 'sidebars' to show the extracurricular lives of the mixed group of well drawn and acted students. The story unfolds slowly, like a conversation, and is offered by a set of actors who disappear completely into their roles. This is one of the few 'classroom films' that elects to inform rather than to preach and features a teacher who is as fallible as the students. Many lessons are here in this Class.