Review: The Class

[Originally published in the Forge Press 20.02.09]

Top class act
Review: The Class

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, French director Laurent Cantet’s The Class forces you to walk out of the cinema with the feeling of having just spent two hours in the most lively, and stimulating class of your life.
Based on the novel by co-screenwriter, lead actor and real life teacher Francois Begaudeau, The Class presents an absorbing journey into the course of a term at a secondary school in Paris, looking at the present and culturally diverse future of France, through the interactions of a teacher and his students. Francois is a liberal and sympathetic teacher, constantly challenged by the questions and often crass attitudes of his class. But tensions rise when a slip of his tongue fuels a debate into political correctness, resulting in an act of violence, and the expulsion of one of his pupils.
The film does not develop dramatically; it is literally two hours of classroom banter, rendering it tedious at times, yet you still cannot help but like it.
Shot on just three HD cameras that never leave the boundaries of the school, Cantet blurs the lines between documentary and drama, as we are given a fly on the wall perspective, allowing an audience to feel intimately aligned with the action.
All aspects of the class are acutely examined as we witness them giggling, whispering, and daydreaming. Their performances are so subtle and remarkably convincing that it gives the film a strong sense of realism.
The authentic vibe of this class must be due to the fact that the young cast are predominantly played by non-professional actors, allowing them to deliver questions and answers naturally.
Each student realistically portrays a character that each of us would have known at school. We can identify with each and every one of these youngsters, from the misunderstood trouble maker, Souleymane, at the back of the class; the confused Goth in the corner; to the unheard voice of the international student, Wei. Yet no characteristics are ever heightened, they are performed effortlessly and with delicacy.
Similarly, Cantet breaks down the stereotypical lifeless mould that teachers are often placed into, and creates believable characters.
Francois Begaudeau plays the compassionate role of the teacher that everyone admires and respects, while others are shown to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Cantet also offers us an exploration into the secret world of the teachers’ common room, where the more humorous scenes of the film are played out, where teachers discuss who is “nice” and “not nice at all” against a long list.
It is these subtleties of humour, combined with the boisterous energy and realism of the class, that create a refreshing film consistently true to real life.

Melissa Gillespie