MONSIEUR LAZHAR DVD (2011)

SYNOPSIS: Bachir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant is hired to replace an elementary school teacher who died tragically. While the class goes through a long healing process, nobody in the school is aware of Bachir's painful former life nor that he is at risk of being deported at any moment. Adapted from Evelyne de la Cheneliere's play, Bachir Lazhar depicts the encounter between two distant worlds and the power of self-expression. Using great sensitivity and humour, Philippe Falardeau follows a humble man who is ready to transcend his own loss in order to accompany children beyond the silence and taboo of death.

MOVIE REVIEW:

There is a suicide at school. And the story develops around how one of the school children might have played a part in this.

This premise forms the backbone of Monsieur Lazhar and it is intriguing enough. It is clear, from the outset, that the film deals a lot with—and often none-too-subtly at that—the topic of death—both children’s and adults’ perceptions of it, and how they differ.

Slowly, the themes of immigration and exile are weaved into this fabric of lessons about death and loss, especially with the arrival of replacement teacher Bachir Lazhar, played by Mohamed Saïd Fellag.

Following the conventional fish-out-of-water narrative thread, there is a general sense that Lazhar is set up to be portrayed as the quirky, Algerian teacher from out-of-town, and who is out-of-place in his new surroundings as a stickler for rules and tradition that doesn’t sit quite comfortably in a French classroom. However, the character, as portrayed by Saïd Fellag, is more bland than quirky, and plainly lacking in charisma.

Sure, his moody and often passive demeanour is ultimately attributed to the character’s tormented past, but this is where the characterisation becomes an awkward loophole, as Lazhar’s past makes it hard for him to truly reach out to the school children. He tries to, but his internal conflicts often mar his efforts. And because films about teachers often bank on the strong connection developed between teacher and student, Monsieur Lazhar doesn’t quite have that honesty and warmth achieved in Être et Avoir (2002) nor that level of riotous entertainment value in Les Choristes (2004).

Even the relationship with his “star student”, the precocious Alice L'Écuyer (Sophie Nélise) evolves in a contrived manner. In contrast to the reticence of Saïd’s character, Nélise steals the show as the headstrong, sensitive Alice. But while she is evocative in the scenes that depict the estranged relationship between her character and the character’s mother, her outbursts at school and passive-aggressive altercations with Simon (Émilien Néron)are often over-the-top and overly affected.

The story is sound, and the interweaving ideas often poignant. But something is not quite right with the casting of Monsieur Lazhar.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

MOVIE RATING:

(A “touch-and-go” film, Monsieur Lazhar has a strangely detached quality and is really not all that moving to warrant the string of awards it has garnered)

Review by Tay Huizhen