Entering the cinema for this long awaited Cannes Palme D'Or winner, I couldn't help but see in my mind scenes from "Goodbye Mr Chips" (two versions), "To sir with love" and "Dead poet society", and wonder how "The class" will be like. After 128 minutes the passage of which I wasn't even conscious, being so absorbed in the film, I emerged with a one word answer: different. A neutral word, neither better or worse, just different.
"The Class" is very much like a documentary, can even be seen as one, being based on a novel that is in essence an autobiography of French (referring to both his nationality and the subject he teaches) junior high school (13-, 14-year olds) teacher Francois Begaudeau. What the audience is intimated to is one academic year in his life at a school in a working class neighbourhood in suburban Paris. While it does not seem to be as rough as Harlem, it is more ethnically diversified Caucasian, African, Asian, Arab and more. To most of these students who have no problem conversing in daily colloquial French, the elegant French grammar he teaches is as alien as something from outer space.
The first thing I noticed about this film is the very long scenes in the class room, to such an extent that you begin feel that you become part of the class. One might have thought that one would get bored, but quite on the contrary, you are so absorbed in it that you hardly notice the passage of time. There are about half-dozen students that you get to know very soon, plus half-dozen more you begin to recognize. It soon becomes fascinating, as you, just like Francois, are trying to understand each of these very different young men and women. They can be variously cheeky, introvert, rude, subtle, naïve, pitiable, funny .. It is mesmerizing to see how Francois handles each different challenge, not without his own emotions, but always rational, objective, and lovably stubborn.
While the teacher-student interaction is the soul of this film, it offers more interaction among teachers (particularly in a disciplinary meeting considering an expulsion), as well as between teacher and parent. There are delinquent students, opinionated teachers, equally opinionated parents, but there are no real villains in the dramatic sense. Characters are presented to the audience from real life, with all their shortcomings and good qualities. To be able to bring real life to the screen in such an engaging way makes its Palme D'or award well deserved.
"The Class" is very much like a documentary, can even be seen as one, being based on a novel that is in essence an autobiography of French (referring to both his nationality and the subject he teaches) junior high school (13-, 14-year olds) teacher Francois Begaudeau. What the audience is intimated to is one academic year in his life at a school in a working class neighbourhood in suburban Paris. While it does not seem to be as rough as Harlem, it is more ethnically diversified Caucasian, African, Asian, Arab and more. To most of these students who have no problem conversing in daily colloquial French, the elegant French grammar he teaches is as alien as something from outer space.
The first thing I noticed about this film is the very long scenes in the class room, to such an extent that you begin feel that you become part of the class. One might have thought that one would get bored, but quite on the contrary, you are so absorbed in it that you hardly notice the passage of time. There are about half-dozen students that you get to know very soon, plus half-dozen more you begin to recognize. It soon becomes fascinating, as you, just like Francois, are trying to understand each of these very different young men and women. They can be variously cheeky, introvert, rude, subtle, naïve, pitiable, funny .. It is mesmerizing to see how Francois handles each different challenge, not without his own emotions, but always rational, objective, and lovably stubborn.
While the teacher-student interaction is the soul of this film, it offers more interaction among teachers (particularly in a disciplinary meeting considering an expulsion), as well as between teacher and parent. There are delinquent students, opinionated teachers, equally opinionated parents, but there are no real villains in the dramatic sense. Characters are presented to the audience from real life, with all their shortcomings and good qualities. To be able to bring real life to the screen in such an engaging way makes its Palme D'or award well deserved.