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Bruce says: “Laurent Cantet burst on the scene
with the admirable first effort, HUMAN RESOURCES. His next films, TIME
OUT and HEADING SOUTH, proved that
he is on an upward trajectory. THE CLASS, winner of the Palme d’Or at
Cannes, is a wonderfully unbiased look at the travails of a schoolteacher
and the struggles and fears of the students in his class. The film is
based on the memoirs of François Bégaudeau who essentially
plays himself in the film. The students are all non-professional actors;
some are Arab, some Asian, some of undetermined backgrounds. To some extent
they play themselves, yet some of the film is pure fiction. This blending
of documentary and narrative filmmaking is all the vogue right now. Chinese
director Jia Zhangke is doing similarly effective work.
“Bégaudeau plays M. Marin, an uncommonly gifted teacher who,
unless pushed beyond reasonable limits, maintains his cool under the most
stressful classroom situations. The students are smart-assed, recalcitrant,
mean-spirited, shiftless and self-involved. There is an occasional bright
moment when one student appears grateful or another finally masters a
hard-to-grasp concept. Most of the time, the classroom is a battlefield.
The good responses are, ‘Sir, why are you criticizing me?’ or, ‘No one
talks to me like that.’ Often no one in the class has done the homework
and Marin frequently gets no volunteers when he poses a question. Punishment
has no effect on the students.
“From time to time the camera leaves the classroom to catch some
schoolyard action or document a staff meeting. Most of the teachers treat
their work as just another job, the occasional one going off on a rant
when his grip on sanity is loosened a bit. The first half of the film
is clearly mood setting – there is a total absence of plot. Marin
asks his students to write self portraits describing their feelings, not
just listing milestones or historical facts. This exercise is effective
because it is ultimately non-threatening. But success for Marin does not
come easily, even then.
“An unfortunate incident unfolds that involves several students.
Two girls who were made classroom representatives in a disciplinary hearing,
return to the classroom and reveal to the rest of the class what was agreed
to be kept secret. When Marin refers to their behavior as skanky, some
of the class is outraged. One student gets injured and one is threatened
with dismissal. The film ends with a hearing that will determine his fate.
“The strengths of the film begin with Cantet’s relentlessly
non-judgmental approach to his subject matter. The viewer is in no way
directed one way or another, an astonishing achievement considering the
complex environment lends itself to sociologically positioning oneself
on the side of the teacher or on the side of the students. The classroom
camerawork is astounding and the children are as real and natural as any
teen actors could possibly be. The minor weaknesses are: there is depth
lacking in most of the characters (realistically, it is not always possible
to accomplish everything in a single film); and some of the scenes seem
fragmented, some tossed in just because they were available, not because
they fit. In spite of its length, the film holds the viewer’s attention
remarkably well. 4.5 cats
“THE CLASS screened at the 2008 New York Film Festival.”
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