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Laurent Cantet (right) with members of cast and crew

Jan 30, 2009 Web Exclusive By Chris Tinkham

The Class, France’s first Palme d’Or winner in 21 years, is a spirited, sometimes intellectually dizzying film that pits one French teacher (François Bégaudeau) in a classroom with 24 junior-high students at a racially mixed Paris school. Director Laurent Cantet utilized three HD cameras to shoot the improvised teacher-student exchanges as if they were volleys in a tennis match (viewed from courtside), and the ensemble student performances are so unaffected that much of the film could be mistaken for a documentary. The Class is nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

There’s a scene where Vincent, one of the teachers, explodes into rant in the teacher’s lounge. What inspired this scene? Is it from the book?

It’s taken from the book, yes. But I think it’s maybe the most theatrical scene, but I don’t mind that at all, in that particular instance. Because, I think, even for him, at that moment of the film, he is playing a part. He has to just do his number, because he is at the bad moment of the year, or something happened, and he really needs to explode to let some steam out. What interests me is, the next time you see him in the film, he is really defending the children. He is not as distraught anymore. And I think all the teachers know these kinds of ups and downs, and that’s also why I wanted to film the others who are just looking at him without saying anything, just thinking that, the day after, it could be them.

In another scene, when Carl arrives, the students are told that to stand is not submission or humiliation. Is this something that has been debated between students and faculty?

It’s not necessarily those students in particular, but yes, it addresses the fact that the students feel it’s a bit military, and it’s a little bit humiliating. And as well, it’s a sort of authority rapport that is a bit of a caricature; it sort of exaggerates respect. There are still some teachers who want students to stand up, but I think they are less numerous. In fact, I kept that just because I loved the sentence: It’s not submission, but it’s a way to pay respect to the adult. It just seems very funny to me. On the other hand, in many schools right now, when the director of the school walks in the classroom, it is still the tradition that all the students are supposed to get up.

In another scene, when the two student representatives attend the faculty meeting, there are frequent shots of the students giggling. When I’m watching the scene, I’m thinking, “Why aren’t they asked to leave?” So, I was wondering if you were trying to provoke the viewer in this scene?

It was something that I needed for the plot of the film, first. I needed to create that particular tension, so that after that, it would create what happened in the classroom. And that is something that is quite true in there, on that occasion, the pupils are no longer pupils, but they are representatives of the class. So they don’t feel this is the place to assert their authority in the same way they would in the classroom. So, of course, I think that in reality, eventually somebody would have asked them to leave. That’s why I thought it was better that Esmerelda decides for herself to walk out, because she too felt that she had pushed the boundary.

I understand that you can’t speak for all 24 students, but in general, how have they responded to the success of the film?

The first reaction they had, even before we knew the award, when they first saw the film, they were very surprised, and they told me, “Wow, we did a real film.” Because they never really had the feeling that they were working when we were together, even though I think that they produced a huge amount of work. And, I have to say, after the success of the film, I think they behaved very remarkably. None of them tried to be the hero or tried to be the most interesting. And they all really kept this feeling of being a group, and all the work that was done together stayed there. And, as well, they kept their heads cool. They didn’t start fantasizing about becoming big stars. So, I was very proud of them for their behavior. But I think it came from the way that we were working together throughout this process.

When we first see Carl on the playground, he’s wearing Allen Iverson’s basketball jersey. Who was responsible for putting him in that jersey?

The process of finding the costumes was lots of fun, actually, because it was sort of a mix of things they had, and then we went shopping with them and tried to find out what they liked and what they would like to wear. On the other hand, for certain characters, we actually gave them their look. Particularly, I’m thinking about Soulmayne, who I think finally got in touch with character when we started to dress him as a tough guy. And, in the same way, the young kid that claims to be gothic, that’s not who he is in real life. And Arthur, this kid, just jumped on the occasion, because they were asking, “Do we have to be like we are in real life?” And I said, “No. You can choose whatever you want. If somebody wants to be gothic—“ And I didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence, because he raised his hand and said, “Me, me!” So, suddenly, I felt that he had the chance to experience some things, during the film, that he might have wanted to experiment with in life. Why were you interested in Carl’s jersey?

Because, if this were an American film, I could assume that an Allen Iverson jersey was chosen on purpose. Allen Iverson is an excellent basketball player, but he also has a reputation for being a bad boy.

So, maybe Carl knew this, but I didn’t know it.

How surprising was the Palme d’Or, given that it had been more than 20 years since a French film won the award?

Yes, of course, I was very surprised, because this film was not a regular film. It was created in a very particular way, without professional actors, with lots of room for freedom from the screenplay. And because I think it’s a film that you cannot exactly pin. And because this is actually something that was brought up by critics, that you don’t necessarily know from what angle to approach it. Is it fiction? Is it documentary? Is it stage? Is it just capturing a real slice of life? And personally, I think cinema can be that as well. So the fact that it won the Palme, of course, gives me now a certain amount of strength for me to be able to go on doing cinema in that fashion. And the other thing that was a great pleasure to me, and source of pride, was to be able to share that success with all the students, because they’re not very used to applause. And for this very night, for this small moment when they were all on stage, they were all representing the image of France. And when it is something that is always denied to them, most of all I was very happy for them.

www.sonyclassics.com/theclass