Dvd
The Class (Entre les murs)
When The Class won the Palme D’Or at Cannes last year, it was the first French film to do so for 21 years. It’s an adaptation of a semi-autobiographical novel by Francois Bégaudeau which deals with his experiences teaching literature at a rough school in a down-at-heel area of Paris. Bégaudeau himself takes the lead role.
Praised for its naturalistic style and realistic tension, Begaudeau says he hopes the film will open people’s eyes to the way things really are for the scallywags of our times: "I think it would be good for all those people who claim to be able to judge youth in two or three aphorisms to learn something new."
Starring Francois Begaudeau
Directed by Laurent Cantet ('Heading South')
Written by Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet (based on the novel by François Bégaudeau)
Festivals & Awards Palme D'Or winner, Cannes 2008
2hr 8mins | Rated (M) | contains offensive language | Origin: France | Language: French with English subtitles
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- The People's Reviews
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The Peoples voice
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Fantastic
5
This is different experience at the movies - it's incredibly observational and is void of the usual, and predictable film rhythms. I was enthralled from start to finish.
By Paul
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Ending
3
The end was boring
By Lolo
Press Reviews
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Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
The movie is bursting with life, energy, fears, frustrations and the quick laughter of a classroom hungry for relief.
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Empire (UK)
4 4 out of 5 stars
In addition to being one of the best school films of recent times, this is a troubling but gripping exposé of the cultural and racial divisions crippling Europe. Intelligent, well acted and deeply discomfiting.
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Los Angeles Times
The reality of François' classroom is so intense that it holds our interest even while the film's dramatic focus is building so quietly under the surface that we don't notice it at first.
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New York Times
Here Mr. Cantet -- whose earlier features include "Human Resources" and "Time Out," two other dramas about systems of power -- has done that rarest of things in movies about children: He has allowed them to talk.
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NZ Herald (Peter Calder)
5 5 out of 5 stars
Masterful and unsentimental classroom movie reinvents the docudrama.
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Total Film (UK)
4 4 out of 5 stars
Partially improvised, using a real (ex-)teacher and real schoolkids in note-perfect performances, Cantet’s film recreates life in a tough inner-city school with breathtaking authenticity.
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TV3 (David T Hay)
5 5 out of 5 stars
The result is a film that succeeds on every level.
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Variety (USA)
Talky in the best sense, the film exhilarates with its lively, authentic classroom banter while its emotional undercurrents build steadily but almost imperceptibly over a swift 129 minutes. One of the most substantive and purely entertaining movies in competition at Cannes this year.
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