Novelist François Bégaudeau, who spent a year teaching in a similar school after graduating from college and wrote a book about his experiences, plays Mr. Marin, a loose version of himself. Mr. Marin teaches French to a class of 13- and 14-year-old students who are predominantly of North African, Caribbean, or Chinese descent (all of whom are played by nonprofessionals mostly using their real names), and while there is little explicit attention to issues of poverty, neighborhood violence, or illegal immigration, those issues are always simmering just beneath what is happening in the classroom at any given moment. There is a subplot involving a Chinese student’s mother being deported, but otherwise what happens outside the walls of the classroom informs what happens within it, rather than directly intruding. This is where the film derives much of its strength as an emotional experience: It focuses our attention on the tense and always shifting power dynamics within the classroom without losing sight of the fact that school is but one element in the sometimes ragged texture of these students’ lives. By excluding everything outside the school walls, Bégaudeau, director Laurent Cantet (Heading South), and coscreenwriter Robin Campillo (who has collaborated on nearly all of Cantet’s features) neatly sidestep all the cloying and obvious subplots that frequently weigh down films of this sort.

Although the film lacks conventional narrative momentum, there is inherent interest in what happens in Mr. Marin’s classroom because it is a constant power struggle, with the teacher attempting to interest his students in the intricacies of the French language while they challenge--in ways both overt and subtle--the assumption of his authority. They question why he uses predominantly western names like “Bill” in his examples, rather than names that reflect the multicultural make-up of his class; defy the limits of his assignments; and sometimes simply refuse to do what they’re asked. Mr. Marin responds in various ways, but most frequently it is with wit and sarcasm, which cuts through his students’ anti-authoritarianism, but also constantly puts him at risk of insulting or belittling them. Essentially, there is a fine line between his need to puncture their rebellion from time to time as a way of reinforcing social norms and cutting them down in a way that is counterproductive, which is exactly what he does late in the film.

For what it attempts to do, The Class works extremely well. The cast is enormously effective, with more than a dozen students creating unique and memorable personalities, sometimes with only a few lines or dialogue and a few minutes on screen. Naturally, some students take on larger roles, especially Esmeralda (Esmeralda Ouertani), a particularly chipped stone who shows an unexpected interest in Plato’s Republic, and Souleymane (Franck Keïta), a surly, defiant student who may or may not be unfairly punished when he lets his temper swing out of control. François Bégaudeau has a natural charisma, and he plays Mr. Marin as a genuinely good man who wants to help, but also can’t help but feel frustrated at times, which is what the film is ultimately about: good intentions and the deeply flawed world in which they must work.

Copyright ©2009 James Kendrick

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