The Teachers’ Room on Arte: chaos in the heart of the school (review)

Nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film, a challenging thriller about school which provides relevant reflection on the difficulties of the teaching profession.

Two years after its release, La Salle des profs is broadcast for the first time unencrypted on television this Wednesday evening on Arte, and visible in streaming on the channel’s website. Presented at the Berlin Film Festival and nominated for an Oscar for best international film, this German drama has had a successful career, attracting more than 230,000 spectators to French cinemas in 2024. Première recommends it:

Author of several feature films that have never reached French cinemas, the name of İlker Çatak was until then unknown to us. And sitting down to watch a film with such a sober, almost conventional title, it’s difficult to imagine anything other than a new drama about school, in the tradition of Heirs and a Serious Job, released last year. As expected, the film opens with a kaleidoscopic portrait of a school, in which teachers struggle to do the best they can with students who are often in difficulty.

At the center of the equation, Carla, a falsely idealistic young teacher, the perfect prototype of the working girl who puts her work above all else, finds herself in turmoil by accusing a colleague from the administration of having stolen her money. And from there, The Teachers’ Room will surreptitiously switch to a psychological thriller by looking at the causes and effects of such an accusation, whether founded or not. Among the victims, the son of the accused, a student in Carla’s class, rebels, and takes the story towards a questioning that is more relevant than ever: that of the alienating power that a student can exercise over a teacher, and the physical violence that always ends up following it.

Leonie Benech, a formidable actress who is reminiscent of Isabelle Huppert, delivers an exceptional performance, full of nuances, and perfectly crystallizes the pain and expectations linked to the teaching profession. A film more important than ever.

Of İlker Chatak. With Leonie Benesch, Michael Klammer, Rafael Stachowiak… Duration 1h39. Released March 6, 2024