The Class

Allowed 124 minutes • 2008 • 7.5

The teacher and author François Bégaudeau has written the script for this movie, as well as the book it is based on, which is directed by Laurent Cantet. The Class is a classroom drama and was awarded the Palm d’Or at Cannes Film Festival and nominated for Best foreign laungage film at the Oscars. Bégaudeau plays the lead role as himself, an idealistic teacher in a rugged, multicultural suburban school along with many amateur actors who also play themselves. In this intense drama, the relation between teacher and students illustrates today’s France, it’s language, identity, culture and the contradictions in politics. “One can only be happy about the fact that there are directors who choose to deal with these important issues – and has the skill to fictionalize them in an entertaining way”, Hynek Pallas at SvenskaDagbladet writes and gives it the highest rating.