The Class (2008) Entre les murs (original title)

Director:

Laurent Cantet

Writers:

Laurent Cantet (scenario) and
Robin Campillo (scenario) ...
(more)

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 | School | High School | Inner City

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 11 wins & 16 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
Rachel Regulier	...	Khoumba
Laura Baquela	...	Laura
Louise Grinberg	...	Louise
Lucie Landrevie	...	Lucie
Nassim Amrabt	...	Nassim
Qifei Huang	...	Qifei
Rabah Nait Oufella	...	Rabah
Samantha Soupirot	...	Samantha
Franck Keïta	...	Souleymane
Wei Huang	...	Wei
Anne Wallimann-Charpentier	...	Les Profs - Anne
Cécile Lagarde	...	Les Profs - Cécile
Frédéric Faujas	...	Les Profs - Fred
Vincent Robert	...	Les Profs - Hervé
Olivier Dupeyron	...	Les Profs - Olivier
Patrick Dueruil	...	Les Profs - Patrick
Dorothée Guilbot	...	Les Profs - Rachel
Anne Langlois	...	Les Profs - Sophie
Vincent Gaire	...	Les Profs - Vincent
Yvette Mournetas	...	Les Profs - Yvette
Julie Athenol	...	La CPE
Jean-Michel Simonet	...	Le principal
Olivier Pasquier	...	L'intendant
Stéphane Longour	...	Les surveillants
Abdoul Drahamane Sissoko	...	Les surveillants
Aline Zimierski	...	La cantiniére
Silma Aktar	...	Les femmes de ménage
Marie-Annette Sorrente	...	Les femmes de ménage
Gilles Gourmelen
Frédérique Alles
Isabelle Lamrani
Marianne Auzary
Stéphane Leyvigne
Gaelle Bantegnie
Isabelle Mesplede
Valérie Benguigui
Gokmen Nalcakan
Jean-François Chauvet
Farida Ouchani
Christiane Dancie
Mario Fanfani
Fatoumata Kanteé	...	La mére de Souleymane
Cheick Baba Doumbia	...	Le frére de Souleymane
Lingfen Huang	...	La mére de Wei
Wenlong Huang	...	Le pére de Wei
Khalid Amrabt	...	Le pére de Nassim
Adeline Fogel	...	La mére d'Arthur
Sezer Özyilmaz	...	La mére de Burak

Directed by
Laurent Cantet

Writing credits
Laurent Cantet		(scenario) and
Robin Campillo		(scenario) and
François Bégaudeau		(scenario)
François Bégaudeau		(inspired by the book)

Produced by
Simon Arnal	....	producer
Caroline Benjo	....	producer
Barbara Letellier	....	producer
Carole Scotta	....	producer

Cinematography by
Pierre Milon

Film Editing by
Robin Campillo
Stephanie Leger

Costume Design by
Elisabeth Joinet		(as Bebeth Joinet)
Marie Le Garrec

Production Management
Christina Crassaris	....	post-production supervisor
Michel Dubois	....	production manager
Marc Dumontet	....	assistant production manager
Jean-Marie Laurens	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mathieu Danielo	....	assistant director

Art Department
Sabine Barthélémy	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Antoine Baudouin	....	assistant sound editor
Edouard d'Heucqueville	....	sound mix technician
Jean-Pierre Laforce	....	sound re-recording mixer
Olivier Mauvezin	....	sound
Antoine Mercier	....	sound
Agnes Ravez	....	sound editor
Paulin Sagna	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Samuel Boulitreau	....	electrician
Vincent Buron	....	camera operator
Arthur Chassaing	....	camera operator
Julie Conte	....	camera operator
Jean-Marc Dupuy	....	key grip
Aurélien Gerbault	....	electrician
Cyril Herry	....	electrician
Romain Kelfa	....	camera operator
Georgi Lazarevski	....	camera operator
Catherine Pujol	....	camera operator

Casting Department
Vicky Brougiannaki	....	extras casting assistant
Christine Campion	....	extras casting

Editorial Department
Sophie Denize	....	digital intermediate producer
Florian Du Pasquier	....	conforming editor
Jacky Lefresne	....	colorist

Other crew
Vincent Caire	....	acting coach: to children
Aurelio Cardenas	....	assistant director
Isabelle Coursin	....	location manager
Mathieu Danielo	....	assistant to director
Nathalie Depose	....	location manager
Michel Dubois	....	assistant to director
Annie Girault	....	production administrator
Stéphane Longour	....	acting coach: to children
Olivier Pasquier	....	financial director
Myriam Raynaud	....	production assistant
Sambou Sissoko	....	assistant to director
Brigitte Tijou	....	assistant to director
Brigitte Tijou	....	script supervisor
Stéphanie Tournerie	....	production administrator

Thanks
Gilles Marchand	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Haut et Court (present)
• France 2 Cinéma (co-production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• France 2 (FR2) (participation)
• Soficinéma 3 (in association with)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Agence Nationale pour la Cohésion Sociale et l'Egalité des Chances (ACSE) (support)
• Région Ile-de-France (support)
• Cofinova 4 (in association with)
• Fonds Images de la Diversité (support)
• Procirep (support)
• Programme MEDIA de la Communauté Européenne (support)

Distributors

• Haut et Court (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• France Télévision Distribution (2009) (France) (DVD) (also Blu-ray)
• AmaFilms (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• ArtCam (2008) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Camera Film (2009) (Denmark) (theatrical)
• Cinéart (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• EDKO Film (2008) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Filmcoopi Zürich (2008-2009) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Kino Bez Granits (2008) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Primer Plano Film Group (2009) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2008) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2008) (Mexico) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2008) (New Zealand) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2008) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Tokyo Theaters Company (2010) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Artificial Eye (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Barbar Film (2008) (Turkey) (all media)
• Cinema Mondo (2009) (Finland) (all media)
• Concorde Filmverleih (2008) (Germany) (all media)
• Film1 (2009) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Golem Distribución (2008) (Spain) (all media)
• Imovision (2009) (Brazil) (all media)
• Mikado (2008) (Italy) (all media)
• NonStop Entertainment (2008) (Sweden) (all media)
• SPInka (2008) (Poland) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2008) (Canada) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (Canada) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Twin Pics (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Éditions Gallimard  book publisher: © 2006
• Donna Daniels Public Relations  publicity: US release (uncredited)

Also Known As:

"Entre les murs" - France (original title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language

Runtime:

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

Country:

France

Language:

French | Bambara | Spanish

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:Btl | Germany:o.Al. | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:12A | Argentina:Atp | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:M | UK:15 | Mexico:B | Japan:G | South Korea:12 | Singapore:NC-16

Company:

Haut et Court

Trivia:

The French title - Entre les murs - translated into English means "Between the Walls" (as in a classroom).

Movie Connections:

References Hellraiser (1987)

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.