Spring Break
'The Class' fails to earn high grade
by Justine Root
Arts Editor
Arts | 2/10/09
Posted online at 1:02 AM EST on 2/10/09
I find my longest class-which clocks in at a murderous 80 minutes-almost intolerable; every Monday and Wednesday, I must summon every ounce of willpower in my being in order to drag my worthless carcass to said educational session, and along the way I pray to God that this class will not be the one in which I meet my untimely demise at the hands of boredom.
Thus, I suppose I should not be surprised that The Class, which is essentially a two-hour film about one of my least favorite activities (except in French), failed to hold my attention for the entirety of its duration.
However, The Class, which details the happenings at a multicultural French middle school over the course of one year, certainly doesn't deserve a failing grade. The students-in addition to looking like genuine, awkward teens-are played by incredibly good actors whose performances contain no trace of the over-the-top ham that taints those of most young entertainers. The movie's lead, François Bégaudeau, is also a natural in his role as M. Marin, the teacher of the film's namesake (although, this may be on account of the fact that Bégaudeau is an actual teacher in addition to being the author of the semiautobiographical novel upon which The Class is based). And the movie itself is incredibly true to life. With its documentary-style camerawork, I actually thought at several points during The Class that the film was a documentary.
But there are certain points where The Class is almost too realistic; when two students start debating the merits of certain soccer teams during class or when teachers begin discussing the profitability of the school's coffee machine at a staff meeting, I began to feel that all-too-familiar soul-crushing tedium. Not only that, but The Class never features a scene set in a location other than the middle school. Granted, this one-locale technique has been used successfully in other films (such as the 1987 Italian masterpiece La Famiglia, in which the entire movie takes place in a single household), but in this particular movie it hinders character development because the school setting only allows us to see students as they are in class and teachers as they are among fellow faculty in the break room. As a result, the audience is almost never granted any knowledge regarding the backstories of the film's cast, and accordingly, certain students appear to be little more than pretentious, snot-nosed brats with no rhyme or reason behind their attitudes.
Thus, I suppose I should not be surprised that The Class, which is essentially a two-hour film about one of my least favorite activities (except in French), failed to hold my attention for the entirety of its duration.
However, The Class, which details the happenings at a multicultural French middle school over the course of one year, certainly doesn't deserve a failing grade. The students-in addition to looking like genuine, awkward teens-are played by incredibly good actors whose performances contain no trace of the over-the-top ham that taints those of most young entertainers. The movie's lead, François Bégaudeau, is also a natural in his role as M. Marin, the teacher of the film's namesake (although, this may be on account of the fact that Bégaudeau is an actual teacher in addition to being the author of the semiautobiographical novel upon which The Class is based). And the movie itself is incredibly true to life. With its documentary-style camerawork, I actually thought at several points during The Class that the film was a documentary.
But there are certain points where The Class is almost too realistic; when two students start debating the merits of certain soccer teams during class or when teachers begin discussing the profitability of the school's coffee machine at a staff meeting, I began to feel that all-too-familiar soul-crushing tedium. Not only that, but The Class never features a scene set in a location other than the middle school. Granted, this one-locale technique has been used successfully in other films (such as the 1987 Italian masterpiece La Famiglia, in which the entire movie takes place in a single household), but in this particular movie it hinders character development because the school setting only allows us to see students as they are in class and teachers as they are among fellow faculty in the break room. As a result, the audience is almost never granted any knowledge regarding the backstories of the film's cast, and accordingly, certain students appear to be little more than pretentious, snot-nosed brats with no rhyme or reason behind their attitudes.
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