The Class

A film set in a state school in Paris. François teaches French at a secondary school. The class is made up of students from many backgrounds, and most cannot connect the language taught at school with their own lives. The film follows one academic year. Almost all of it takes place in the classroom: arguments about grammar, fights over homework, disciplinary hearings and conversations in the staff room. At one point the teacher loses his temper and says something harsh to two students. The class will not let it go. A disciplinary process against a student follows and the matter grows. What the film is interested in is not who is right. Teacher and students are each both right and wrong, and the narrative takes no side. The method is particular. Real students play the students; a workshop ran for a year and the scenes were developed by improvisation. The man playing the teacher is a teacher himself and the author of the book. The source is François Bégaudeau's account of his own experience. Laurent Cantet directed. The film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. A strong example for anyone who likes realist cinema and narratives about education. For a viewer expecting incident, it is entirely conversation and never leaves the classroom.