The Class [Entre Les Murs] **** (2008, Stars François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, Angélica Sancio) – Classic Movie Review 12,860

French film-maker Laurent Cantet won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2008 for his moving and humorous school-set film The Class [Entre Les Murs].

Laurent Cantet’s 2008 Cannes Palme d’Or-winning school-set film The Class [Entre Les Murs] is based on the 2006 novel of the same name by François Bégaudeau, a semi-autobiographical account of his experience as a French language and literature teacher in a middle school in the diverse 20th arrondissement of Paris.

It especially concerns his struggles with ‘problem children’: Esmerelda (Esmeralda Ouertani), Khoumba (Rachel Regulier), and Souleymane (Franck Keïta).

Bégaudeau also stars as the teacher François Marin in the film, a moving and humorous portrait of idealism in the classroom. It is an impressive achievement, especially considering the improvisation by the non-professional teenage actors.

Stars: François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, Angélica Sancio.

Writers: Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo, François Bégaudeau (scenario), (inspired by the book by François Bégaudeau.

It received a unanimous vote for the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, the first French film to do so since 1987 when Maurice Pialat won for Under Satan’s Sun. It was Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost to Departures.

French film-maker Laurent Cantet, who won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2008 for his school-set film The Class [Entre Les Murs], died in Paris of an illness on 25 April 2024, aged 63.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,860

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