The prospect of seeing a film in which an idealistic teacher spreads the gift of knowledge to a troubled, lower middle class school is not an enticing one. There are enough “inspirational teacher” movies to fill a whole section at Blockbuster, and not a single one is convincing. Thanks, but I’ve had plenty of fine teachers in my day, and all of them have had the courtesy to a) not stand on their desks, and b) not be Robin Williams.
Laurent Cantet’s The Class, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, is an adaptation of François Bégaudeau’s book about his difficult experiences as an idealistic teacher, starring Bégaudeau as a fictionalized version of himself. The Class begins with François’ struggle to earn the respect and cooperation of his seventh grade class—particularly a troubled, disruptive boy named Souleymane (Franck Keita)—in scenes that practically set the audience up for a French-language version of Lean on Me. But The Class doesn’t take the easy route. This is a film that follows François’ experiences as they would almost certainly occur in real life: uneven, sometimes inspiring, but often simply frustrating as he struggles to control and motivate his class.
Among the greatest virtues of The Class is its authenticity. In contrast to the clichéd school age characters we see in most movies, the children in The Class are deeply rooted in reality. In an interview with Laurent Cantet, I mention that the character of Wei (Wei Haung), a studious Chinese boy whose parents face possible deportation, is particularly vivid.
“Originally in the script the way it was written, there was a Chinese character, except his name was Ming,” says Cantet. “And he was a very shy boy, and he wouldn’t speak for fear of making mistakes in French. And then we met Wei, who was totally the opposite, because he loves to talk, and he loves a good argument, and he loves to speak, period. And there was no point in asking Wei to shut up and become somebody he’s not, so what was Ming in the original script became Wei based on the real Wei.”
Cantet used elements of improvisation for most of the major roles, explaining that he developed characters “by working with the students for a very long time, getting to know them, and respecting who they are. And also by creating the characters on the basis of what the students put forward.”
The drama about Wei’s parents’ deportation takes place largely in the background, operating like an intrusion on the school’s closed universe. “The idea was to show that the school was neither a sanctuary nor a fortress, and therefore everything that happens in the country has an effect on the school,” says Cantet. “The school is a wonderful place because it enables you to integrate these kids into the adult world, but at the same time it excludes a lot of the kids. This co-existence of the two is on the one hand inevitable, but at the same time is tragic. This is what I felt when I made the movie.”
While François means well, he never becomes the “inspirational teacher” he clearly desires to be. I suggest to Cantet that the film is ambiguous in its depiction of François—is he really a good teacher, or does he fall prey to corruption (for example, downplaying his involvement in the film’s climactic conflict)?
Cantet is more forgiving. “François is an idealist. He tries to create a level playing field between himself and his class, but it is the system that’s stopping him. If he’s got a dilemma, for instance, he keeps asking whether there should be a meeting of the disciplinary committee. But ultimately, he knows that he’s got the last word because of the way the system’s set up.”
The Class opens Friday, January 16.
