This perceptive, engaging French Canadian film explores the ways in which a school tragedy affects its students and teachers (but not, interestingly, the parents).  After a popular teacher hangs herself in an empty classroom, a small Montreal public school is faced with the aftermath.  An Algerian man, Monsieur Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), presents himself as a substitute and is hired.  His interactions with the eleven- and twelve-year old kids who are still troubled and confused by the tragedy comprise the bulk of the story, although he also has his own personal tragedy to overcome.

The beauty of this story and the way in which it is told by director Philippe Falardeau lies in its tiniest details: how the children interact with each other; how Lazhar tries to connect to the kids (and sometimes fails); how the school administrators react to the suicide by following specific guidelines but shy away from actually dealing with it directly; how the adults seem more traumatized by it than the kids.  Character and meaning are expressed through facial expression, voice, posture and gesture — old school, so to speak — with nuance and subtlety and precision.

The acting is excellent, especially from the children.  The story spotlights two who had strong connections to the dead teacher, a boy (Émilien Néron) and a girl (Sophie Nélisse), and their characters are more important than that of the titular substitute teacher.  It is through them that the story develops, with a strong undercurrent of future trouble to arise if their concerns are not addressed.  And it is they who offer the greatest rewards of this low-key but quite effective movie.

I’m not thrilled with the story’s denouement, though it does seem inevitable.  I wish events could have played out differently, yet, realistically, the conclusion feels true. The school sequences, which comprise most of the narrative, are quite impressive and realistic.  The parallel story that gradually reveals Lazhar’s past is less effective, partly because Fellag constrains his character’s emotions.  I was much more invested in the children than in Lazhar’s past.  The film has some interesting perspectives on modern education, too, and it is well worth seeing for them, and mainly for its superb depiction of a modern classroom under duress.  ✰ ✰ ✰.  9 May 2012.