Both Hollywood and France have already given “The Class” an “A.” This slice of inner-city school life won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. And for this weekend, it is considered the front-runner — along with Israel’s nominee “Waltz with Bashir” — to win an Academy Award in the best foreign language film category.
I’m not so sure that “The Class” deserves such extra credit. But it is a revealing, intelligent if slightly scattered pastiche of cinema verite and “To Sir With Love.”
Director-co-writer Laurent Cantet uses long takes and an improvisational style to give a documentary feel to this look at a multiethnic Parisian classroom and its disadvantaged teenagers during the course of a year. It is based on the 2006 novel “Entre les Murs” (“Between the Walls”), penned by a former real-life teacher, the film’s co-screenwriter and star Francois Begaudeau.
French grammar educator Francois Marin (Begaudeau) tries to teach about conjugation, literature and speaking the language in the proper way. But he finds himself as the defender of western civilization among students of mostly Asian and African heritage who often question and even reject the now-fading dictates of traditional, white France.
This culture clash combines with the challenging circumstances that the kids face in their immigrant families and the typical rebelliousness of adolescence to create the film’s low-key drama.
Insolent girl buddies Esmeralda (Esmeralda Ouertani) and Khoumba (Rachel Regulier) provide teacher Francois with daily irritation. The studious, attentive Wei (Wei Huang) only wants to learn but finds himself held back by his rowdy, unfocused peers. And, in the one attempt to lend some conventional plot to the piece, an uncooperative and academically limited pupil from Mali, Souleymane (Franck Keita), turns momentarily violent. During the incident, Francois also loses his cool. This leads to an ethical dilemma that could completely change the course of Souleymane’s life. Unfortunately, we never find out what ultimately happens to him or the others as the focus remains on the classroom throughout.
The younger actors in particular give unaffected and yet affecting performances that make even the obnoxious teens they play seem sympathetic. But “The Class” isn’t really a story. It’s a rough sketch of a very specific milieu with semirealized characters in some interesting situations over a prescribed time period. Even if it lands an Oscar on Sunday, it isn’t more than that.
Quick Info
“The Class”
3 out of 5 Stars
Stars: Francois Begaudeau, Franck Keita, Esmeralda Ouertani
Director: Laurent Cantet
Rated PG-13 for language
Running time: 128 minutes
In French with English subtitles
