THE CLASS / ENTRE LES MURS - traversing the murky waters of liberal angst

THE CLASS is an award-winning quasi-documentary about modern race relations in France, from the writer-director behind the provocative sex-tourism drama, HEADING SOUTH. Based on the experiences of teacher, François Bégaudeau, the movie recreates the atmosphere and tensions of a year in a Parisian inner-city school, casting François and a host of real students and creating a script through extensive workshopping. 

The energy and authenticity of the film - the quality of its hand-held camera-work - the pleasure of spending two hours getting to know the kids - the purity of the concept of never leaving the class, never following the kids home - has won THE CLASS praise, and perhaps surprisingly, the Palme d'Or, beating competition from IL DIVO, THREE MONKEYS, WALTZ IN BASHIR, GOMORRA and CHANGELING. 

To my mind, it deserves praise for its energy and insight. I had fun watching the film. But is it really as subversive as everyone thinks? The standard argument seems to be that THE CLASS deserves praise for having overturned the typical Hollywood movie in which an idealistic teacher comes into a rough class and through innovative teaching techniques earns their respect. Think DANGEROUS MINDS. There's a troubled boy who disturbs class and usually ends up dropping out, despite the extenuating circumstances of trouble at home. There's the bright girl who denies her talent by getting pregnant, or dropping out. And there's the anonymous rabble of ne'er-do-wells who start off rough as houses but end up charming, considerate and thankful.

THE CLASS is no different. Yes, it may be a bit more honest about racial tensions, but you can still see the familiar genre tropes. The teacher is still an earnest liberal who transgresses the line of involvement, and defends his kids against the powers that be. A bolshy boy will still end up threatened with expulsion. And the majority of kids do end up responding to the teacher and learning something. Moreover, the film has real flaws, creating scenes that seem absurdly saccharine and break the carefully constructed feeling of authenticity. When a promising Chinese student's mother is threatened with deportation, would a guilt-laden teacher really raise two toasts to him with champagne, trumping her happiness at being pregnant? And, in the final scene, would a bolshy kid really accurately precis' Plato's Republic, thereby neatly putting the teacher who'd called her a skank in his place? This all seemed ludicrous to me.

So, I guess my response to THE CLASS was conflicted. I admire it technically, and I admire its intentions. But in reality, Laurent Cantet has created a movie as unreal and stereotypical as those awful Hollywood genre pics he so clearly wanted to subvert.

THE CLASS played Cannes 2008 and was released in France, Belgium, Italy, Israel, Greece, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Turkey, Russia, Romania, Latvia, Sweden, the US and Norway last year. It was released in Croatia, Germany, Spain, Australia, Denmark and Finland earlier this year. It is currently on release in the UK, Hong Kong, Estonia and Brazil.

HEADING SOUTH/VERS LE SUD - provocative French-language drama

HEADING SOUTH/VERS LE SUD is an intelligent drama set in a beach resort in Haiti. The resort attracts ageing lonesome women from around the world. The movie hits the ground running with a painfully tragic dialogue between a middle-aged Haitian woman and a Haitian man in the airport arrival hall. She approaches him – a stranger – and in a quiet, dignified voice, offers him her fifteen year-old daughter. Being poor and beautiful, the woman fears her daughter will end up on the streets unless she has this man’s “protection”. Immediately we are made aware that this is a chronically poor society in which poverty has made conventional morality impossible. The woman also offers the man, who refuses her offer, some advice. She says that all people wear masks – good and bad – and that it is not always possible to tell which is which. The message may seem trite, but spoken with such sincerity it attains a profundity and sadness.

The movie then changes its gaze to a run-down beach hotel. It attracts middle-aged lonely women who are more or less happy to pay for the services of a host of attractive young Haitian men. The alpha-female in this group is a French-speaking Englishwoman who teaches at Wellesley. Her name is Ellen and she is played by Charlotte Rampling as a materialistic, cynical, bitter and imposing woman. Ellen commandeers the services of a young man called Lejba every summer. Ellen is put out when Brenda arrives also looking for Legba. It appears that three years ago, when visiting the resort with her husband, Brenda had an affair with Legba that she regards as the defining moment of her life. Brenda is mocked by Ellen for romanticising a commercial arrangement, but as the movie progresses we come to realise that it is Ellen who is the romantic and Brenda who is objectifying these young men.

I found this to be a fascinating but disturbing movie. The material seems to be handled sensitively, but by the end of the movie you realise that while many of the main characters have been given the opportunity to talk directly to the camera and explain their position, Legba remains an enigma. This, coupled with the way in which he is photographed, means that even the film-makers are to some extent objectifying him. One wonders if this is a deliberate provocation...

HEADING SOUTH/VERS LE SUD played Venice and Toronto 2005. It was released in France and Belgium at the start of 2006 and is currently playing in the US, UK, Spain, Netherlands and Italy. It opens in Germany on September 21st.