Tuesday, March 10, 3:30 pm

Student Union Movie Theater, UNC Charlotte Main Campus

Monsieur Lazhar 

Director Philippe Falardeau

Canada, 2011, 94 min

In French, English, Arabic with English subtitles

Presented as part of The Tournées Festival, which was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the US, the Centre National de la Cinématographie et de l’Image Animée, and the Franco-American Cultural Fund.

Additional sponsors are the Alliance Française de Charlotte and the UNC Charlotte French Club.

Introduction and discussion by William Davis, Instructor of Film Studies, UNC Charlotte

“A classroom is a place of friendship, of work, of courtesy, a place of life,” says the new teacher of the title to his sixth-grade students in a Montreal public school. That profoundly touching statement evinces the deep respect Monsieur Lazhar (the phenomenal Mohamed Fellag) has for his charges, who are still reeling from a beloved teacher’s very public suicide.

Writer-director Philippe Falardeau’s movie is that rarest of movies about education: one that avoids clichés and sentimentality in favor of honesty and clear-eyed compassion. Based on a one-person play by Evelyne de la Chenelière, it explores the intricate process by which M. Lazhar earns the respect and trust of his pupils, some of them the children of immigrants or, like this devoted instructor, recent arrivals to Quebec. As the reasons for M. Lazhar’s immigration to Canada from Algeria are made clear, so, too is his rather unconventional method for applying for the teaching position. Yet this educator isn’t the film’s only multifaceted character: the preteen students are also fascinatingly complex, struggling with roiling emotions and troubles at home. Best Canadian Feature Film – Toronto International Film Festival (2011)

Reviews:

“Monsieur Lazhar sustains an exquisite balance between grown-up and child’s-eye views of education, teacher-student relations and peer-group interactions. The students come quirkily alive in superb naturalistic performances devoid of cuteness and stereotyping. Like no other film about middle school life that I can recall, Monsieur Lazhar conveys the intensity and the fragility of these classroom bonds and the mutual trust they require.” Stephen Holden, New York Times

Social Media Links: Monsieur Lazhar on YouTube