The Class (Laurent Cantet,2008):France

Reviewed by Maurice Cohen. Viewed at the AFI Film Festival, LA

All those long discussions going nowhere in the classroom, we all had them. Watching The Class it feels like you’re back in the same room again. I saw the Class at the Film Festival in Hollywood, before entering the theater there was a large line wai ting to go in. Since the fact that the Class had won the Golden Palm award at the Cannes film festival the expectations were high. The movie is based on the book ‘Entre les murs’ written by Francois Begaudeau who also plays the leadrol as the French teacher Mr. Marin. Basically he plays himself in the movie. The class is directed by Laurent Cantet.
It’s filmed liked a documentary th at explores the themes of redemption, tough love , and community dynamics.

A new year of school starts again. We see all the teachers introducing themselves, among them, new teachers as teachers who already worked there for several years. Watching the movie it feels like there’s one seat available for you to take. After a few weeks Mr. Marin comes with a project, all the students have to write a self-portrait. A perfect project to get to know everybody and their though lives in the Parisian neighborhood. Some students refuse to write the self portrait because it would be to personal, and the biggest issue , the teacher wouldn’t understand their lives. After a good talk everybody decides to write the self-portrait, that way we get to know all the students and the diversity between them.

Most of the scenes have a fast pace. This fast pace is created by the fast conversations the teachers and the students have with each other. The use of the camera makes sure you emotionally connect with the movie by use of a slightly moving steady camera.

The Class is definitely worth seeing. A 120 minutes well spend. We all been there, in the class, and we all had days that we disliked and liked. I could see why it won The Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film festival 2008.