Monsieur Lazhar (2012)

How is a class of eleven/twelve-year olds to cope with a tragedy that suddenly and out of the blue takes away their teacher? How do parents and teachers react to the trauma the children are experiencing? The school principal is under pressure to keep things "normal", none of the other teachers can take on the class, one school councillor is designated for the class of twenty plus young minds a crisis of great proportion... Into this challenging scenario walks Bashir Lazhar and offers himself as the ideal replacement teacher. With great subtlety and compassion does the film, Monsieur Lazhar, explore the evolving relationships between teacher and students, among various teachers and last but not least, between Bashir Lazhar at the school and his personal struggles beyond. While set in Montreal, Quebec, the messages of the film are nor locality specific, and could happen anywhere. The story touches on the different ways of dealing with loss and guilt, with honesty, lies and pretense, with prejudice and expediency. And finally, how the coping mechanisms of adults cannot easily be transferred to those of children living through a crisis. The story concentrates on two of the children, Simon and Alice, their growing hostility and Bashir's strict yet sensitive methods in dealing with the emotional struggles that the children go through.

Mohamed Fellag's acting in the role of Monsieur Lazhar is excellent, his interpretation of his character utterly convincing in his unassuming and often understated acting. The child actors, especially the two interpreting Simon and Alice, come across as natural and genuine. Philippe Falardeau, the film's Canadian writer/director came to international attention last year with his film "Incendies" that, like Monsieur Lazhar this year, was nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign-language film. [Friederike Knabe]

There is no shortage of good French language films about children and their teacher(s). Though this one is set in Montreal, it has many of the endearing qualities that French directors bring to their portrayal of the interaction between children and adults.

What makes this film excellent is its overall tone. It's touching, it's heartwarming and ultimately sad, but in an almost uplifting way. The acting the children is flawless.

And while the subject matter of death is at the core of the film, it is enveloped in a

feeling of awe and detachment at how the kids deal with it, and themselves, and a humanistic

portrayal of the teacher who has to take on the class following the suicide of their previous teacher. The teacher himself though has his own understated but real demons to cope with. But the heart of the film, including most of its scenes, take place in a classroom.

Technically, the film has a near perfect touch. Scenes end when "they should" instead of being drawn out for unneeded effect (and the ending included), histrionics are absent, and it flows like a calm stream with potentially turbulent undertones. It's a film ultimately about life, love, respect, hope and endurance.

It's a film you'll enjoy owning so that it can be viewed on multiple occasions. And being a foreign film, you can bet that most of your friends and family haven't seen it.

Buy Monsieur Lazhar (2012) Now

And I don't throw that word around. Everything about this film is exquisite: the story, cinematography, editing, pertinence, depth, character development, acting, soundtrack -and the French (my second language) is pristine. I don't recall breathing while watching it in the theatre, but I must have. The popcorn went untouched. I can hardly wait for the DVD!

Read Best Reviews of Monsieur Lazhar (2012) Here

A replacement teacher and his students help each other come to terms with tragedies in their lives. Compassionate, thoughtful, often very funny.

Recognizes that a modern classroom with its heavily regulated behavior can be an environment hostile to compassion and connection and addresses that both as a part of the inciting tragedy and as an obstacle to dealing with it.

Want Monsieur Lazhar (2012) Discount?

I'm sure I can't improve on the review that originally brought this Quebecois film to my attention. Je vous remercie profondément, Madame Knabe! Was "Monsieur Lazhar" nominated for Best Foreign Language Film for 2012 or 2011? In either case, it deserved to win just as much as whichever motion picture captured that condescending prize, including even Michael Haneke's intense "Amour." The acting is wonderfully well attuned, both from the adult teachers and from the students in a Montreal public school distraught over a well-loved teacher's suicide in her own classroom. The dynamics of faculty relations in the small school are perfectly convincing, which is not often the case in films. [I taught art and music in a grade school for two anxious semesters, by the way, decades ago at the beginning of my adult life.] As is so predictable, the brightest children are both more perceptive and more vulnerable than their teachers. It must be scary to confront such a realization for the first time as a beginning teacher. The title character, Monsieur Lazhar, has more immediate reasons to be scared, however. Only his gentle, humane decency carries him through.

Save 43% Off