Running time: 130 minutes
Starring: François Bégaudeau, Franck Keita, Wey Huang, Esmeralda Ouertani, Rachel Regulier, Boubacar Toure
Rating 7 out of 10
For anyone ever contemplating becoming a teacher, The Class should be compulsory viewing. The film provides an absorbing and intimate look at life in a Parisienne high school. The racial and cultural tensions that exist within the classroom of Françoise Dolto Junior High, situated in a tough Paris neighbourhood, reflect those found throughout France and are the central themes dealt with in The Class. Based on François Bégaudeau's book Entre les murs, the film is a blurred mix of drama and cinéma vérité.
The Class is directed by Laurent Cantet, who shares a screenwriting credit with Robin Campillo and Bégaudeau, who also makes an impressive acting debut as François Marin, the teacher whose class we follow over the course of a year. The term script is a loose one as the scenes are improvised around ideas developed from Bégaudeau's book. Using real students and teachers from Dolto High rather than actors, The Class possesses a very naturalistic tone. Its faked realism is convincing, but is also one of the film's limitations.
There is no narrative or focus, which is an issue in a film that lasts over two hours. There is a loose thread involving Souleymane (Franck Keita), a disruptive student whose violent outbursts and insolence result in him facing expulsion and possibly a return to his native Mali. Beyond that, the film deals with the everyday events at the school, the classroom bickering and Marin's efforts to maintain order and educate the teenage kids who show little or no interest in learning.
Being in the presence of a class of 14 and 15-year-olds, with their puerile humour and rude behavior, is at times exasperating and unpleasant. It's a testament to the film's realism that there are moments you want to reach out and slap some sense and manners into the kids. They certainly test the patience of Marin who tries valiantly to restrain himself in the face of frequent and extreme provocation.
The Class is an original exercise, though what it gains by being staged rather than being a more conventional documentary is hard to determine. Although in most cases the kids used their real names, they were encouraged to develop specific personas for their characters. For example Arthur Fogel explored his darker side when he volunteered to take on the part of the class goth, Arthur.
It is the rich mix of personalities that makes The Class bristle at times, but the petty bickering becomes wearing. Your heart goes out to Marin who tries to remain buoyant in a sea of indifference. I recall as a child questioning the sanity of anyone who chose to spend a moment in school that wasn't compulsory. Watching The Class only serves to reinforce my youthful theory.
Kevin Murphy
The Class is directed by Laurent Cantet, who shares a screenwriting credit with Robin Campillo and Bégaudeau, who also makes an impressive acting debut as François Marin, the teacher whose class we follow over the course of a year. The term script is a loose one as the scenes are improvised around ideas developed from Bégaudeau's book. Using real students and teachers from Dolto High rather than actors, The Class possesses a very naturalistic tone. Its faked realism is convincing, but is also one of the film's limitations.
There is no narrative or focus, which is an issue in a film that lasts over two hours. There is a loose thread involving Souleymane (Franck Keita), a disruptive student whose violent outbursts and insolence result in him facing expulsion and possibly a return to his native Mali. Beyond that, the film deals with the everyday events at the school, the classroom bickering and Marin's efforts to maintain order and educate the teenage kids who show little or no interest in learning.
Being in the presence of a class of 14 and 15-year-olds, with their puerile humour and rude behavior, is at times exasperating and unpleasant. It's a testament to the film's realism that there are moments you want to reach out and slap some sense and manners into the kids. They certainly test the patience of Marin who tries valiantly to restrain himself in the face of frequent and extreme provocation.
The Class is an original exercise, though what it gains by being staged rather than being a more conventional documentary is hard to determine. Although in most cases the kids used their real names, they were encouraged to develop specific personas for their characters. For example Arthur Fogel explored his darker side when he volunteered to take on the part of the class goth, Arthur.
It is the rich mix of personalities that makes The Class bristle at times, but the petty bickering becomes wearing. Your heart goes out to Marin who tries to remain buoyant in a sea of indifference. I recall as a child questioning the sanity of anyone who chose to spend a moment in school that wasn't compulsory. Watching The Class only serves to reinforce my youthful theory.
Kevin Murphy
