Monsieur Lazhar (2011)

At a Montréal public grade school, an Algerian immigrant is hired to replace a popular teacher who committed suicide in her classroom. While helping his students deal with their grief, his own recent loss is revealed.

Director:

Philippe Falardeau

Writer:

Philippe Falardeau (screenplay)

Stars:

Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Émilien Néron

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 28 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mohamed Fellag	...	Bachir Lazhar (as Fellag)
Sophie Nélisse	...	Alice L'Écuyer
Émilien Néron	...	Simon
Marie-Ève Beauregard	...	Marie-Frédérique
Vincent Millard	...	Victor
Seddik Benslimane	...	Abdelmalek
Louis-David Leblanc	...	Boris
Gabriel Verdier	...	Jordan
Marianne Soucy-Lord	...	Shanel
Danielle Proulx	...	Mme Vaillancourt
Brigitte Poupart	...	Claire
Jules Philip	...	Gaston
Louis Champagne	...	Concierge
Daniel Gadouas	...	Me Gilbert Danis
Francine Ruel	...	Mme Dumas

Storyline

Bachir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant, is hired to replace an elementary school teacher who died tragically. While the class goes through a long healing process, nobody in the school is aware of Bachir's painful former life; nor that he is at risk of being deported at any moment. Adapted from Evelyne de la Cheneliere's play, Bachir Lazhar depicts the encounter between two distant worlds and the power of self-expression. Using great sensitivity and humor, Philippe Falardeau follows a humble man who is ready to transcend his own loss in order to accompany children beyond the silence and taboo of death.

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Plot Keywords:

school | teacher | classroom | immigrant | algerian | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, a disturbing image and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Canada

Language:

French English Arabic

Release Date:

7 March 2012 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

Canim Ögretmenim

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$112,190 (USA) (13 April 2012)

Gross:

$2,009,041 (USA) (5 October 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

micro_scope

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Canada's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 84th Academy Awards 2012.

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: The Lucky One (2012)

User Reviews

A film that explores loss, exile, and the truths we tell our children.

Our society has often been called "death-denying," one in which grief is suppressed and the inevitability of death ignored. Author John Fowles said, "Death's rather like a certain kind of lecturer. You don't really hear what is being said until you're in the first row." The children at a primary school in Montreal are definitely in the first row in Philippe Falardeau's Monsieur Lazhar, the story of a sixth grade class in Canada attempting to deal with the emotional trauma resulting from the sudden and shocking loss of their teacher.

Nominated for Best Foreign Language film at the 2012 Oscars, Monsieur Lazhar is an adaptation of Évelyne de la Chenelière's stage play, and is produced by Luc Déry and Kim McCraw, the same team that gave us the Oscar-nominated Incendies. According to the jury at the Toronto Film Festival, it is "a film that explores loss, exile, and the truths we tell our children."

Opening in a schoolyard in the middle of a snowy winter, Grade 6 pupils, Simon (Émilien Néron), and his friend, Alice (Sophie Nélisse), have run off to deliver milk cartons only to discover their teacher Martine Lachance has committed suicide, a discovery that leaves both children with profound emotional scars that will take a long time to heal. Because Simon had been a problem for his teacher, he blames himself for her death and takes out his guilt feelings by being overly aggressive towards other children. Unfortunately, the school can only think in terms of "professional" counseling, and a psychologist is hired to assist the distressed pupils, but she is ineffective in reaching them.

The classroom is redecorated and painted, yet the students are not moved to another room and the unseen presence of Martine looms large. Exhausted by the ordeal, the school principal, Madame Vaillancourt (Danielle Proulx), out of desperation, hires Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), an Algerian refugee without papers or references, believing his story that he is a landed immigrant and has taught school for nineteen years, though in fact he has been the manager of a restaurant. Though getting off to a shaky start in class, dictating Balzac to the bewildered children, Bachir soon begins to handle the children's emotions with greater awareness and sensitivity.

Operating under the severe restrictions of today's over-protective culture, he is prohibited from hugging a crying child or even touching them for that matter, a prohibition that often works to the detriment of the child as well as to what the school is trying to accomplish. Though Bachir actually had not told the truth about his teaching qualifications in order to get the job, his ability to relate to the student's trauma because of his own experience allows him to overcome his lack of training and meet the students on an equal playing field. Winner of the award for Best Canadian feature film at the Toronto Film Festival, Monsieur Lazhar is a low-key, low-budget, and often humorous film that observes rather than preaches, and, though the script offers many opportunities, avoids clichés and cloying sentimentality.

Marked by outstanding performances by Fellag, Proulx, and especially the children who are natural and unaffected, the characters are allowed to explore their own feelings without contrivance or manipulation. When the emotional moments come, they are all the more powerful because they arise naturally and not out of pre-designed plot points designed to provoke tears. Though we might wish for an ending akin to Mr. Holland's Opus, the honesty of the film precludes it. While children's hurt in this kind of situation may never be completely forgotten, with compassion, they may be able to develop a new awareness of the preciousness of life and the beauty of giving and receiving love. Monsieur Lazhar has pointed the way.