Entre les murs (2008)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Laurent Cantet

Writers:

François Bégaudeau (book)
François Bégaudeau (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 September 2008 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Student | Teacher | Class | High School | Inner City

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 7 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

François Bégaudeau	...	François Marin
Agame Malembo-Emene	...	Agame
Angélica Sancio	...	Angélica
Arthur Fogel	...	Arthur
Boubacar Toure	...	Boubacar
Burak Özyilmaz	...	Burak
Carl Nanor	...	Carl
Cherif Bounaïdja Rachedi	...	Cherif
Dalla Doucoure	...	Dalla
Damien Gomes	...	Damien
Esmeralda Ouertani	...	Esmeralda
Eva Paradiso	...	Eva
Henriette Kasaruhanda	...	Henriette
Juliette Demaille	...	Juliette
Justine Wu	...	Justine

Also Known As:

The Class (International: English title) (UK) (USA)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language.

Runtime:

Argentina:128 min | France:128 min | USA:128 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS (US prints)

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-3 | USA:PG-13 | Sweden:7 | Germany:o.Al. | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:12A | Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:M | UK:15 | Mexico:B

Company:

Haut et Court

Trivia:

France's official submission for the 2008 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "At the Movies: Summer Special 2008/09" (2008)

Slice of Life in a French Classroom

I watched another French film in a row (after ""Il y a Longtemps que Je T'aime"). "Entre Le Murs" (known in English as "the Class") is the French bet for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and also the first French film to win the Palm D'Or of the Cannes Film Festival in 20 years. It is simply begging to be seen, so I did, despite knowing nothing about its subject matter.

"The Class" turns out to be a documentary-like movie about the tense interaction between teacher and students in a French multiracial high school. In particular, the film follows French grammar teacher Francois Marin who would like to think of himself as a progressive teacher who employs the interactive and self-discovery classroom technique, rather than by traditional lecture style.

However, most of his students are disturbingly belligerent, frank and disrespectful. The main conflict is with a particularly insolent Mali boy named Souleymane who has violent outbursts in class. But there are other students too from Tunisia, Morocco, China, the Caribbean, etc.. all of whom with their own personality and issues which the teacher has to deal with.

Everything in this film is very realistic indeed. It becomes even more personal after knowing that the lead actor who played Mr. Marin is Francois Begaudeau, who actually wrote the semi-autobiographical book about his experiences as a teacher, as well as adapted his own book for this film's screenplay. This is another instance when I am sure a lot of the richness of the language interplay will be lost in the subtitled translations.

A lot of people will find this film boring because of the two hour length, the single setting within the school, and no additional personal side stories about the teachers and students. But with my recent foray into the theory of Education in Graduate School, this film is quite an eye-opener about how different the school situation is these days. Definitely, this film has no Hollywood story arc and uplifting ending. It just tells the situation as it is. And that is precisely where its strength is.