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The Class

The Class

2008
Drama
2h 8m
François and his fellow teachers prepare for a new year at a high school in a tough neighborhood. Neither stuffy nor severe, his extravagant frankness often takes the students by surprise. But his classroom ethics is put to the test when his students begin to challenge his teaching methods ... (festival-cannes.fr)
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The Class

2008
Drama
2h 8m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 66.43% from 1245 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1244)
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Rated 01 Oct 2008
9
90th
A real eye-opener (well for those who have no idea, how difficult teaching those classes may be, be it in France or other countries). There's nothing more satisfying then watching unprofessional actors do a great job, their performances were real and convincing and the script never felt heavy handed. A well-deserved Palme D'or winner.
Rated 15 Mar 2016
60
65th
A mediocre teacher oversees a class of moderately under-disciplined students, affecting their lives in no apparent way. Feel free to use my moist sigh of mild disappointment to buff your Palme d'or statuette, Monsieur Cantet.
Rated 31 May 2009
90
92nd
The Class sets a goal, a quite challenging one, and by the end it has reached it beautifully. I was also surprised by how much I could take from it. Even being in a whole different country, the overall setting felt quite familiar.
Rated 13 Mar 2010
90
88th
I don't know how valid it is, but it was wonderful. It was gripping. I kept fucking watching even though there were no Hollywood moments, or perhaps precisely because there were none. It's simply good to watch. You question who is right. Can there be a right? Who is perpetuating the broken system? Everyone? The teachers? The students?
Rated 11 Oct 2009
84
77th
I've been thinking about this for a few hours since seeing it and I have some mixed feelings. As a film it's incredibly effective, it feels very natural and real, both in pacing and acting, and I appreciate its deviations from the standard saviour teacher clichés. I'm a bit more conflicted about the message, as I feel it's trying to craft sympathy for the teacher while pretending to be balanced. Maybe if it weren't written and performed by the teacher I would feel less suspicious about motives.
Rated 13 Jan 2009
88
82nd
A great insight in a teacher's life. The 'actors' are played very realistic , and so is the story. The sometimes shaky and movabele camera results in a very nice and effictive way of filming. A real story , real characters and a great insight in how the society/classroom really is. A correct reflection of what the world is. Some very interesting scene's in it wich show the strenght and way of thinking of children today.
Rated 12 Aug 2010
90
92nd
Of all these superrealistic french, belgian etc. films I've seen (L'enfant and other films like it), this beats them all. Talk about a long film in which the realism kept you in it solely. I was nodding my head, speaking for them, I was touched, moved, happy with them, nail-biting etc. The teacher IS a teacher, never doubted it. Students real students. Must be. Anyways, it just gives you the real deal. Modern schools for you, from all angles. Hard as hell, full of everyday heroes. And noise.
Rated 12 Jun 2011
92
96th
What a fascinating film. It all feels very genuine, real people dealing with real problems and often coming up short. It's absolutely gripping from start to finish, the documentary style immediately plunges you into the lives of the staff and the children. By the end, there isn't a single one you don't care about. There were only a few moments where I could sense the writer's hand at work and for the most part I was thoroughly impressed with this film that left me with so much to think about.
Rated 28 Dec 2008
96
94th
One of - if not the best teacher in the classroom movies. My favorite of 2008 for its incredibly believable characters, quiet direction, and attempt at utter realism.
Rated 18 Feb 2009
95
96th
Feeling like a documentary, the film -while filled w/ life's lighter moments as well- doesn't shy away from conveying the ugly truth of how the anti-authority, self-esteem,& pro-youth movements of the past 35 years have degraded standards 2 such depths that they've allowed education in poorer neighborhoods 2 became a painful, nearly impossible chore. Challenges viewers in any country 2 consider the cost & downward spiral of NOT having given up on the persistently disrespectful & disruptive.
Rated 27 Jul 2010
100
99th
No moment is wasted. Everything adds up to an amazingly raw, sincere, and compelling film. A well-deserved Palme d'Or. A pity it lost to the sappy "Departures" in the Best Foreign Film category.
Rated 31 May 2009
8
84th
Damn, ungrateful kids! Refusing to learn, disrespecting the teacher and each other, showing up late and lazy. Difficult not to side with the teachers: I know I wouldn't last five minutes teaching a class like that. Obviously also interesting as a work of (presumably very factional) fiction posing as faction.
Rated 10 Aug 2021
4
42nd
Spoilers. It was good until the 'skank' incident, which felt contrived to stir up drama for a dramatic end. I just don't think the teacher would have done that.
Rated 28 Dec 2011
87
95th
A bold and clever film that somehow blends reality and fiction with spectacular results. First of all you feel huge respect and sympathy for the heroic teacher of a teenage hellmob... by the end the tables have been turned and you are internally debating a whole host of issues revolving around youth, education, justice, social class, migration and more. I'll admit I spent most of the time wondering how much was real-real and how much scripted, but overall, I found it a fascinating watch.
Rated 31 Jan 2009
0
8th
This movie is a huge lie. I went to high school, too, and in a much nicer neighborhood than this one. The students were not mixed-up but basically good kids who just needed a little patience, kindness, and understanding to straighten up and fly right. The teachers were not professionals doing their best with a difficult situation. Except for maybe six or eight people, they were all assholes
Rated 18 Feb 2009
85
90th
Another movie I would recommend to anyone, its two hours of french people talking, but is does not bore you for a single second, this is a very well deserved golden palm winner.
Rated 18 Oct 2009
90
94th
A very well made film about a teacher in an inner-city school. Despite the recipe for cliche that the first sentence brings it manages to avoid it. The teacher is not perfect. The students don't all change for the better by the end. It's really nice to see a well-written realistic classroom movie for once. Even though most of the actors in this movie aren't professionals they do a wonderful job. Cinematography is understated but extremely good if you actively watch it.
Rated 23 Mar 2009
75
74th
The antidote to crap like Dead Poets' Society and Mr. Holland's Opus, The Class possesses a world-weary cynicism that feels earned. Strives a little too hard to hit a climax when continuing with its unadorned realism would have worked fine, but its ending, where the students recollect what they learned over the course of the year, is particularly potent.
Rated 26 Dec 2012
76
55th
The obvious strength of Entre Les Murs is the authenticity of the characters and situations. It leaves you at a loss as to whether or not someone is to blame or how to improve public education. That being said, the film doesn't explore any solutions, which bothers me a little when a film so clearly sets out to show the ineffectiveness of something. It would have worked better as a documentary.
Rated 28 Aug 2010
68
68th
Everything here seems real, because Cantet, inspired by a cinéma-vérité style, puts on the screen not only classmates' conflicts, but racial, ethnic and social subjects that define the Europe of these days.
Rated 01 Mar 2010
5
83rd
This could have easily been my American high school. The film is so depressingly realistic that it left crying for hours. Those of you who watched the film and still admonished the students afterwards are entirely soulless. All the cultural and institutional obstacles that prevent students and teachers from seeing eye-to-eye are explored, and they really seem insurmountable.
Rated 15 Jan 2010
75
71st
Interestingly enough The Class' appeal mainly lies in its documentary-like film qualities which would have probably worked better as a documentary. Overall, it does a pretty good job of showing the ups and downs of a classroom in a French high school. The non professionalism of the teachers and the racial overtones says a lot about the life and times. Overall, it's good but feels heavy handed and while interesting it is also feels devoid of substance outside of artistic aspirations.
Rated 20 Jul 2009
72
56th
Good, well made, worthwhile film. Teenagers are indeed little b**tards
Rated 22 Jan 2009
80
78th
Truly magnificent. The acting is stunning, I have never seen young untrained kids behave this naturally in front of a camera - thanks to the mainly improvised scenes. There is no big storyline to follow, but Cantet still manages to draw the viewer's attention from the first minute. The film depicts the ups and downs of teaching a classroom full of teenagers with various backgrounds, various personalities in a way I have never seen before.
Rated 07 Mar 2010
90
86th
it was annoyingly good movie. no overrated acting, no unrealistic dialogs in the scenario, just like it is what it must be. Kudos to all children in the class.
Rated 21 Apr 2009
85
71st
A classroom drama where the kids learn nothing from the teacher, and vice versa. The more i think about that concept, the more i like it.
Rated 08 Dec 2009
85
84th
An engaging and unflinching look at an inner city public school year. Having the writer star in the film seems to work particularly well and adds a great deal of resonance to an already excellent film.
Rated 04 Nov 2011
85
93rd
Although it lacks dramatic tension or an actual plot, the naturalism in which "Entre les murs" portrays school life makes for an absolutely engrossing and thought-provoking motion picture experience. Bégaudeau excels both as a screenwriter as well as a protagonist, as the film practically brims with immersive dialogues, both impeccably written and performed. Despite the lack of a robust emotional impact, the film still resonates and offers an unadorned yet captivating essay on modern education.
Rated 09 Sep 2010
5
80th
Almost, just almost, overplays its hand. The authenticity in setting and performances is its saving grace.
Rated 22 Jul 2022
67
30th
While its approach of straddling documentary and fiction is an interesting one, the film can’t quite reconcile its competing agendas; too dramatically inert to work as fiction, and the incident that comes to define the final third feels like a contrived and artificial way to introduce some tension. Its best moments are between the teachers which do have a lively spontaneity that the classroom scenes lack. Bégaudeau makes for an interesting and nuanced antidote to 90s “hardknock kids” teachers.
Rated 27 Jul 2010
100
99th
Undoubtedly the greatest film dealing with educational problems, "The Class" is a powerful punch, an absolute triumph. It deals with the system's flaws without forgetting any, takes the students' family problems into account, realistically depicts the clashes between teachers and pupils, suggests solutions, shows every rotten side of the matter. A brave, objective film. Only minus the tiring trembling camera in the first part. But who cares?
Rated 20 May 2009
75
27th
Goed gemaakt, ondraaglijk om naar te kijken. Door gebrek aan verhaal wordt de frustratie van de leraar en de chaos in de klas goed overgebracht. Prettig kijken doet het dus niet.
Rated 01 Aug 2011
80
68th
I babbled for more than 500 characters: http://www.flixster.com/movie/entre-les-murs-the-class#review:820123502_770770023
Rated 26 Sep 2009
80
68th
I didn't know anything about this movie going into it, so it was extremely refreshing to have the "inspiring teacher" genre subverted so effectively. The copy I watched had terrible subtitles, so it's hard to give a definitive review. I'll have to revisit it some day, but for now I hope more people make movies like this. I can hardly imagine a good "inspiring teacher" movie coming out very soon after The Class. It's pretty earth shattering. (And genre-shattering.)
Rated 20 Feb 2010
8
80th
With a Palme D'or attached, my interest was spiked. A rewarding film that you won't regret putting the time aside to watch it. The conversations feel genuinely real which is "The Class" biggest strength.
Rated 12 Mar 2010
76
33rd
83
Rated 10 Jan 2021
71
85th
The individual aspects of The Class are good, but nothing special; however, the film comes together in a surprisingly gripping way. It's a slice-of-life film that covers a single academic year, focussing on a single teacher and his class, through a handful of lessons and incidents. We're never shown the students' or teachers' home lives. Stylistically shot like a documentary, the almost voyeurism becomes an engaging hook. There's a raw familiarity about the film that makes it work.
Rated 22 Nov 2013
4
69th
Well heck, why didn't he just make them stand on their desks?
Rated 26 Sep 2010
70
77th
A compelling drama, offering an authentic-feeling view of an inner-city classroom.
Rated 20 Feb 2016
15
81st
Star Rating: ★★★★
Rated 29 Dec 2008
88
91st
very well written, and the teachers and children were all believable. a gripping movie, maybe a little bit too long though.
Rated 08 Nov 2018
80
75th
The simple storytelling really draws you in to the unfolding drama.
Rated 26 Feb 2013
88
95th
88.000
Rated 06 Feb 2011
84
95th
Young people treat others like shit in this film. Thank God there isn't that much bullying here in Latin America.
Rated 21 Aug 2009
79
61st
Skanks
Rated 07 Feb 2010
89
83rd
For students in The Class, high school is pointless, in effect, a minimum security prison: to move through the system, you have to associate with people you dislike or despise, including your teacher. American high school films often conclude with small victories and a sense of closure. No victories, big or small, are presented here. This is an unsentimental film: its sensibility is French, but American viewers will have no trouble recognizing universal elements in the director's bleak vision.
Rated 14 Aug 2013
70
46th
Top badass moment? This is a film about one man who thinks he can 'make a difference'. He's got no superpowers, cool gadgets or a perfect physique. He does however do battle on a daily basis, with a horde of confrontational, argumentative and troubled teenagers. He's a teacher. That's badass. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
Rated 05 Feb 2022
4
37th
fransa de bir okuldaki öğrenciler ve öğretmenler.
Rated 08 Feb 2011
76
72nd
öğretmen, ögrenci, sinif, okul, göcmen, fransa (son derece gercekci bir film. abarti yok. o yüzden hikaye düz fazla inis cikis yok. yine de begendim)
Rated 28 Dec 2009
100
99th
This is a truly breathtaking film, and only the second 100 I have in almost 500 ratings. The triumph of Entre... is that, in the end, this is neither a film about school nor teaching nor learning. This is a film about the interactions of disparate groups in singular situations. The performances are varied and remarkable, the dialogue is the most natural I have ever listened to, and the cinematography dissolves away, leaving the viewer literally "entre les murs." Nothing short of a masterpiece.
Rated 16 Jun 2009
82
68th
Interesting insight into the classroom dynamics in a french inner city middle school. I found myself inevitably contrasting values and the attitude of the teenagers towards learning and the teacher with the english state system. Their teenagers may be surly but they at least engaged and seemed to value knowledge.
Rated 16 Feb 2009
35
44th
If it stuck to the teaching stuff it would have done better.
Rated 03 Feb 2009
85
94th
Awesome art-house realism at its most immersive.
Rated 27 May 2009
58
54th
Kudos for achieving documentary like feeling. Great job from all the actors, even the young ones. But I wasn't impressed by the story or the whole idea of the film. It was interesting to see different kind of teaching than I have experienced, but that's about it.
Rated 13 Sep 2011
89
93rd
Extremely good acting, amazing talents! At times it is so tense, it's almost unbearable.
Rated 30 Dec 2008
80
64th
31 Aralik 08, 17:00, galeria salon2 & hayir, altin palmiyelik bir film degil. fakat evet, fransadaki ırk catismasini bir sinif uzerinden cok iyi anlatmis. sinif uzerinden bahsedilen 'sistem' panaromasi (dikkat, elestiri degil, film elestiri sunmuyor.) basarili. oyunculuklarin cok iyi olduguna katiliyorum. realist bir okul filmi. ucuz bir butce ile kotarilmis, bunu da senaryonun iyi yazilmasina borclu (uyarlandigi kitaba mi demeliyiz yoksa??) bir yapim. diyaloglar yer yer yorabiliyor.
Rated 01 Aug 2013
80
84th
Well-acted, well-told and topical without ever being to on-the-nose. A definite recommendation.
Rated 28 Oct 2012
70
3rd
Is it a documentary, a study of milieu or a movie? I don't know. It's good.
Rated 17 Oct 2010
20
41st
"At best, The Class is great reality TV." - David Phelps
Rated 09 Jan 2015
75
52nd
The fact that the teacher is a model of how not to behave in a classroom doesn't take away from the film's great quality.
Rated 24 Dec 2010
1
0th
It's all designed to flatter the middle-class art-film audience's patronizing attitude toward the Third World.
Rated 03 Jan 2012
6
43rd
Interesting and insightful class portrait of a French teacher and what he learnt that year. Understated.
Rated 30 Nov 2012
100
97th
This unassuming movie will nail you to your seat.
Rated 21 Mar 2009
60
85th
Cantet directed the piece with standardized documentary affectations -- an air of improvisation, a raw digital image, a bobbing camera and floating frame, no background music -- and the teaching sessions are far less compressed than in the typical school film of minute-and-a-half classes and saved-by-the-bell. The drawback of the rigorously realistic movie is that it seldom adds up to more than the sum of its parts. This isn't the exception.
Rated 01 Jan 2011
89
89th
88.750
Rated 12 Feb 2020
80
68th
It's a fascinating glimpse into what it's like to teach children, many of them recent immigrants to Paris or the children of immigrants. Most refreshingly, it's not a case of the teacher being portrayed as the saviour of the children. While he is portrayed as someone who is working very hard to help them get ahead, he is also shown to behave badly under some circumstances ... in other words, he's portrayed as a real human being.
Rated 12 Jan 2011
48
36th
It's really quite captivating. The subject matter is inherently interesting, and there's a good flow to the movie. I also thought this made a commendable effort toward nonjudgmental realism. But just as the shaky handheld photography doesn't match the unnatural lighting and overworked sets and wardrobe, so the faux-realist directing doesn't match the often obviously contrived dialogue. And uncannily, although François Bégaudeau plays himself as a real teacher, he looks and behaves like an actor.
Rated 02 Mar 2010
90
73rd
French movies are french movies. I usually don't like them, but the sincerity of this one really worked for me.
Rated 30 May 2010
94
91st
A fantastically realistic and moving film. I loved every second of it.
Rated 01 Mar 2009
85
79th
Another strong film from Cantet. The camera spends most of its time in close-up, removing any strong sense of objectivity. The accumulation of scenes within the classroom do such a nice job observing that a number of issues are raised--anywhere from immigration to discipline. Excellent film. It's just refreshing to see a film like this with realistic characters--a teacher struggling to help and students that show fleeting flashes of getting it, with lots of tension in between.
Rated 22 Jun 2011
90
95th
A delightful watch and I've never seen a movie about school quite like it, very authentic and engaging. I was a little bothered by the camerawork at the very beginning of the film, but it did not draw attention towards itself in a negative fashion as the story progressed. The teacher is the star here obviously, but the teenagers also did a remarkable job.
Rated 19 Mar 2009
35
25th
Not a gripping piece-it drones on from the start to finish of a school year in said class. The kids get rowdier and mouthier through the year. Makes me happy I'm not a teacher. Did appreciate the truth of the movie, though.
Rated 15 Feb 2022
65
46th
How's this a Palme d'Or winner?
Rated 14 Jan 2022
85
83rd
Esmeralda..keşke kariyerine devam etseydin
Rated 09 Dec 2009
58
25th
Here's a French film where the subtitles weren't sufficient. Translation was very critical in this one,

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