Drama
French (Entre les murs)
2008 · Directed by Laurent Cantet · 128 min
A French literature teacher begins a school year with a class of teenagers in a mixed, working-class Paris neighbourhood. Almost everything takes place inside the school, in lessons, staff rooms and meetings, and the film watches closely how a classroom works as a small society.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining film of 21st-century French social cinema, it renewed the tradition of non-professional performers and observational realism, and set a template for later school dramas that avoid inspirational formulas.
Watch with intention
Watch the classroom as a stage where every exchange is a negotiation of authority, not a lesson being delivered.
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