Palme d’Or – Laurent Cantet’s ‘Entres Les Murs’ / ‘The Class’

“Entre les Murs” (“The Class“), based on a best-selling autobiographical novel by François Begaudeau, who plays the main character is brought alive by the performances of the non-professional actors playing the students. The film follows a year in the life of a French schoolteacher working in a tough multi-cultural section of Paris. Sean Penn, the president of the jury, said that the award for “The Class” was one of two unanimous verdicts. The other was the prize for best actor, given to Benicio Del Toro, who played the title in Steven Soderbergh‘s “Che.” Directed and co-written by Laurent Cantet (Human Resources', Time Out), the film is set in a school in the Parisian suburbs; indeed, with the exception of a handful of brief scenes shot in the staff room, the corridors, and the playground, the entire movie is set in one classroom, where François (François Begaudau), a French teacher of some four years standing, attempts to instill some sort of discipline and enthusiasm for learning into a motley, multicultural group of 13- and 14-year-olds.

The Class starts at the beginning of the school year and ends at the end. Cantet refuses to judge the behaviour of any of the teachers or students here, presenting the classroom situations objectively with all the ethical and social baggage they entail. As Begaudeau asserts in the film's press materials, “Everyone is right in this story.” Cantet worked with co-screenwriter Robin Campillo and teacher Francois Begaudeau, who plays the teacher himself and whose book inspired the film. Although the events that happen are based on true-life incidents, the film is fiction, not documentary, and the schoolkids are acting roles. Directed by Laurent Cantet Screenplay: Laurent Cantet, Francois Begaudeau, Robin Campillo, based on the novel “Entre les murs” by Begaudeau. Main cast: Francois Begaudeau, Esmerelda Ouertani, Franck Keita, Wei Huang, Henriette Kasaruhanda, Carl Nanor, Rachel Regulier, Jean-Michel Simonet Produced by Carole Scotta, Caroline Benjo, Barbara Letellier, Simon Arnal.