In watching The Class I was struck by its intelligence. The direction taken upon social and cultural issues within dialogue broke the figurative forth wall allowing individual interpretation and enhancement of character development. You can immerse yourself in the classroom through The Class‘ documentary style cinematography travelling around and between Francois and his students. This intimacy and contextualisation of The Class resulted in a rewarding experience.
Based upon Francois Begaudeau’s semi-autobiographical of the same name, Begaudeau himself plays the lead role as an inner city teacher dealing with troublesome kids. Begaudeau portraying himself in an episode of his life made the narrative more appealing for me as The Class had a strong sense of realism. Though Begaudeau didn’t simply stand in front of the camera to make his presence known. He emoted the hopes and frustrations of a teacher attempting to provide for students. His acting abilities were equally matched by those playing the students, not one faulted in conveying their personalities and problems.
In dealing with these issues at hand the actors were helped by an exceptional script. Large portions of The Class is set within Francois’ classroom debating social and cultural issues, from the use of language to a generation’s moral standards. All issues were debated with openness allowing audiences to be a part of the discussion thus interpreting your own take which for me felt satisfying.
The Class highly deserved multiple awards it later received from Palme d’Or to the Cesar Award as its’ a noteworthy, refreshing film for those seeking cinematic sophistication.
Francois Begaudeau in the leading role
Informative Outlooks 