Monsieur Lazhar/Written and Directed by Philippe Falardeau - A great film from a great contempary play
Quite a long time ago, ever since I was doing these film reviews on this blog, I couldn’t help but realise that they are wonderful contempary plays that are being written. I can include French authors, along with John Patrick Shanley, the author of Pullitzer prize winning play Doubt.But right now, after seeing Monsieur Lazhar, I was astonished by the film’s sobriety and compelling and sound performances, through Falardeau’s still documentaristic screenwriting. Anything about this film makes anything in it to stand out, and almost to me, it’s a mesmerizing and contempary Canadian masterpiece, by a young master of cinema-vérité.
It deals with force and power, the suicide of a schoolteacher who wanted to die in the most hurtful way possible, and that is in her own classroom, while the children were in recess. The whole action takes place in a small elementary school somewhere in Montreal, where every little class is a small Model U.N, many children from many countries, and all Canadian. All the students are mourning in their own way the death of their teacher, and they always bring up her death in the class, through any way possible. Everyone has unfinished business about their teacher who hung herself in the same classroom, where the schoolchildren are still resuming their classes with Monsieur Lazhar. Somewhere along the line for the afflicted schoolchildren and the administration, her suicide becomes pretty much the proverbial “elephant in the living room”, the “elephant” in which no one can talk about in comfort. We gracefully leave from the children’s woes to Lazhar’s own life when he wants to claim to be a refugee in Canada, along with the help of an attorney, portrayed brillantly by Daniel Gadouas.
The execution is in synchronicity with Falardeau’s style of direction, where as a documentarian, his aim to make mainstream films, that have an edge of documentation. However he abandons it completely for a more traditional and classical way of filmaking which more or less suits him. He doesn’t make spectacles, while he only aims for crisp realism, with no absolute artifices, also using a cinematography that is clean and untouched.
Fellag is astonishingly exquisite in the portrayal of Bachir Lazhar, and his performance in it garners itself to be deeply moving. It’s one of the best performances made by an Arab actor in a Québécois movie, also directed by a Québécois. It goes as much as with Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies, in which Villeneuve knew how to convincingly direct every Arab actor in the film. Danielle Proulx gives a great supporting role, as the school’s principal. Brigitte Poupart delivers a solid performance, as Claire Lajoie a schoolteacher that is loved by all, including Bachir.
From a great contempary play, it comes from the author Evelyne De La Chenelière, and I could say that the play itself is solid, while being powerful and not lagging a single instant. Of course, Falardeau knew well enough how to transpose it to the screen, while not reading the play itself, I can’t compare in saying if the play might be superior than the film.
It’s a great film, while not being perfectly in tune to everyone's taste. But of course the little actors portraying the children do exude a certain charm. Emilien Néron is a small actor who is big on his own acting chops, he delivers a brillant and complex performance.
Somewhere along the line, it’s a beautifully crafted film in it's execution, do not on this mature occasion, for a film filled with good intentions. And along with Pilon’s Décharge, it’s the second best film of the year.
And I might understand why it's in the nominations for best foreign film at the upcoming Oscars.
4.7*/5
M.L
