''Monsieur Lazhar'' is a 2011 Canadian French-language
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Philippe Falardeau
Philippe Falardeau (born February 1, 1968 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter.
Early life
Falardeau was born and raised in Hull, Quebec. He later studied political science at the University of Ottawa, before travellin ...
and starring
Mohamed Saïd Fellag,
Sophie Nélisse
Marie-Sophie Nélisse (born March 27, 2000) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her Genie Award–winning performance in ''Monsieur Lazhar'', as Liesel Meminger in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel ''The Book Thief'', written by ...
and
Danielle Proulx
Danielle Proulx (born October 12, 1952 in Montreal, Quebec) is a French Canadian actress. She is a two-time Genie Award winner for Best Supporting Actress, for her roles in '' Love Crazy (Amoureux fou)'' in 1991 and '' C.R.A.Z.Y.'' in 2005.
In ...
. Based on ''Bashir Lazhar'', a one-character play by
Évelyne de la Chenelière, it tells the story of an Algerian refugee in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
who steps in to teach at an elementary school after the former full-time teacher commits suicide.
Falardeau opted to film the story for the Canadian company micro_scope, despite the challenges of adapting a play with only one character. De la Cheneliere advised Falardeau and recommended casting Algerian comedian Fellag. It was filmed in Montreal.
After premiering at the
Locarno International Film Festival
The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...
, where it won the Audience Award and the Variety Piazza Grande Award, it received critical acclaim. The film was subsequently nominated for
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
84th Academy Awards
The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011 in the United States and took place on February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre in ...
,
and also won six
Genie Awards
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
, including
Best Motion Picture.
Plot
In
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, an
elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
teacher
hangs herself. Bachir Lazhar, a recent Algerian immigrant, then offers his services to replace her, claiming to have taught in his home country. Desperate to fill the position, the principal, Mme Vaillancourt, takes him at his word and gives him the job. He gets to know his students despite both the evident
culture gap A culture gap is any systematic difference between two cultures which hinders mutual understanding or relations. Such differences include the values, behavior, education, and customs of the respective cultures.Oxford English Dictionary
As internat ...
and his difficulty adapting to the school system's constraints.
As the children try to move on from their former teacher's suicide, nobody at the school is aware of Bachir's painful past, or his precarious status as a
refugee
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. . His wife, who was a teacher and writer, died along with the couple's daughter and son in an arson attack. The murderers were angered by her last book, in which she pointed a finger at those responsible for the country's reconciliation, which had led to the liberation of many perpetrators of serious crimes. The film goes on to explore Bachir's relationships with the students and faculty, and how the students come to grips with their former teacher's suicide. One student, Alice, writes an assignment on the death of their teacher, revealing the deep pain and confusion felt by each of the students.
Bachir eventually comes to be loved and respected by the students he is teaching, but the teacher's death still haunts the students. During a school dance, a student named Simon is found to have a photo of his former teacher. It is revealed that he tried to get her into trouble after she tried to help him through his family struggles. Bachir eventually gets the students to open up about the death, especially Simon, who is blamed and blames himself for causing the teacher's suicide. Eventually, some parents discover that Bachir has no
teaching qualification
A certified teacher is an educator who has earned credentials from an authoritative source, such as the government, a higher education institution or a private body or source. This teacher qualification gives a teacher authorization to teach and ...
; previously, he had run a restaurant. He is then fired from the school. He asks the principal to be able to teach one more day, convincing her by noting that the old teacher never got to say goodbye to her students.
On his last day, Bachir has his students correct a fable he wrote which is a metaphor of his tragic past life in Algeria and the loss of his family in a fire. Before he leaves, one of his students, Alice (whom he professed to be his favourite to her mother) gives him a tearful hug goodbye.
Cast
Production
![Mohamed Fellag (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Mohamed_Fellag_%28cropped%29.JPG)
The source material ''Bachir Lazhar'' is a one-character play, making it a challenge to adapt for the screen. However, producers
Luc Dery
Luc or LUC may refer to:
Places
* Luc, Hautes-Pyrénées, France, a commune
* Luc, Lozère, France, a commune
* Le Luc, France, a commune
* Luč, Baranja, Croatia, a settlement
People and fictional characters
* Luc (given name)
* Luc (surn ...
and
Kim McCraw attended a performance with director
Philippe Falardeau
Philippe Falardeau (born February 1, 1968 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter.
Early life
Falardeau was born and raised in Hull, Quebec. He later studied political science at the University of Ottawa, before travellin ...
, and Falardeau expressed excitement about making a film version.
''Bachir Lazhar'' author
Évelyne de la Chenelière suggested Falardeau cast comedian
Mohamed Fellag
Mohamed Fellag (born 31 March 1950 in Azeffoun, Tizi Ouzou) is an Algerian comedian, writer, humorist, and actor. In 1958, at the height of the Algerian war of independence, his father took him and his younger brother, for their safety, to stay w ...
as the protagonist, and Falardeau learned how to contact Fellag by researching the comedian's
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
videos.
Falardeau said he continuously consulted de la Cheneliere, allowing her to review screenplay drafts.
It was shot in
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montreal.
There were 28 days of shooting, about an average time for a film to be shot in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. The principal filming occurred in the summer so the production could use the school and so the educations of the child actors were not disrupted. Four of the shooting days occurred in the winter. Child actress
Sophie Nélisse
Marie-Sophie Nélisse (born March 27, 2000) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her Genie Award–winning performance in ''Monsieur Lazhar'', as Liesel Meminger in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel ''The Book Thief'', written by ...
turned 10 shortly before shooting began.
Release
''Monsieur Lazhar'' debuted at the
Locarno International Film Festival
The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...
in August 2011, followed by a screening at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
in September 2011.
It was featured at the
Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...
in December 2011, and selected for the 2012
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
.
The film opened in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
on 22 October 2011. It was released in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
on 27 January 2012,
a few days after it was announced in January 2012 that it was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
. A
limited release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in the United States was also planned for April 2012.
Reception
Box office
By 15 November 2011, the film made $1 million in Quebec theatres. By 19 December 2012, it made over $1 million in the U.S., with Falardeau also claiming success in Japan, the Netherlands and Spain.
''Monsieur Lazhar'' grossed $2,009,517 in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and $4,572,398 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $6,581,915.
Telefilm Canada
Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in V ...
credited it, along with ''
Incendies
''Incendies'' (; "Fires") is a 2010 Canadian drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the screenplay with Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's play of the same name, ''Incendies'' stars Lubna Azabal, Mélis ...
'' and other films, with doubling domestic and worldwide gross on its works in 2011.
Critical response
The film received critical acclaim. At
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds a rating of 97%, based on 119 reviews and an average rating of 8.16/10. The website's critical consensus states, "''Monsieur Lahzar'' is a tender and thoughtful portrait of a man with hidden grief and also a compelling exploration of the teacher-student dynamic".
It also has a score of 82 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, based on 31 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
In Canada, Jennie Punter gave it four stars in ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', praising it as "an exquisite, humanistic and subtly topical work of cinema art." Peter Howell gave it four stars in ''
The Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', complimenting the film for simplicities and complexities, and for Fellag's emotion. ''
The Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
s Brendan Kelly credited Philippe Falardeau for keeping the film from becoming overly sentimental.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
awarded it three and a half stars, calling it a film of "no simple questions and simple answers." In ''
The Los Angeles Times
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'',
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...
praised it for capturing authentic emotions, while refraining from becoming overbearing.
Ty Burr
Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...
rated it three and a half stars in ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'', judging it to be intimate with realistic portrayals of the children. ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
s Stephen Farber praised it as a "nearly perfect gem" and commended young actors Nelisse and Émilien Néron. Critic Ann Hornaday of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' called the film one of the ten best of 2012. Dissenting,
David Denby
David Denby (born 1943) is an American journalist. He served as film critic for ''The New Yorker'' until December 2014.
Early life and education
Denby grew up in New York City. He received a B. A. from Columbia University in 1965, and a master' ...
wrote in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' that the film was smart, but lacked the emotion to take on life.
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
film scholar Claudia Kotte wrote ''Monsieur Lazhar'', along with ''
Incendies
''Incendies'' (; "Fires") is a 2010 Canadian drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the screenplay with Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's play of the same name, ''Incendies'' stars Lubna Azabal, Mélis ...
'' (2010), ''
War Witch
''War Witch'' (french: Rebelle) is a 2012 Canadian dramatic war film written and directed by Kim Nguyen and starring Rachel Mwanza, Alain Lino Mic Eli Bastien and Serge Kanyinda. It is about a child soldier forced into a civil war in Africa, an ...
'' and ''
Inch'Allah
''In sha'Allah'' (; ar, إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ, ʾIn shāʾ Allāh ), also spelled In shaa Allah, InshAllah, Insya Allah and İnşAllah is an Arabic language expression meaning "if god wills" or "god willing". It was mentioned i ...
'' (2012), represent a break from focus in the
Cinema of Quebec on
local history
Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small bu ...
to more global concerns. Authors Gada Mahrouse, Chantal Maillé and Daniel Salée wrote McCraw and Déry's films, ''Incendies'', ''Monsieur Lazhar'' and ''Inch'Allah'', depict Quebec as part of the
global village
Global village describes the phenomenon of the entire world becoming more interconnected as the result of the propagation of media technologies throughout the world. The term was coined by Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan in his books ' ...
and as accepting minorities, particularly Middle Easterners or "Muslim Others". They go on to remark that unlike the other two films, all of ''Monsieur Lazhar'' is set in Quebec.
Accolades
The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
84th Academy Awards
The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011 in the United States and took place on February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre in ...
,
and on 18 January 2012, it was named as one of the nine shortlisted entries for the Oscars.
Six days later, the film was named as one of the five nominees.
Alongside the Polish-Canadian co-production ''
In Darkness'', which was submitted and nominated on behalf of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, the two films marked the first time in the history of Canadian cinema that two films with Canadian connections were finalists for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in the same year.
It is also the second consecutive year that a Canadian film in French was nominated in this category, following the nomination of Denis Villeneuve's ''
Incendies
''Incendies'' (; "Fires") is a 2010 Canadian drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the screenplay with Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's play of the same name, ''Incendies'' stars Lubna Azabal, Mélis ...
'' at the
83rd Academy Awards, and with ''
War Witch
''War Witch'' (french: Rebelle) is a 2012 Canadian dramatic war film written and directed by Kim Nguyen and starring Rachel Mwanza, Alain Lino Mic Eli Bastien and Serge Kanyinda. It is about a child soldier forced into a civil war in Africa, an ...
'' marking the third consecutive nomination in 2013.
Sophie Nélisse
Marie-Sophie Nélisse (born March 27, 2000) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her Genie Award–winning performance in ''Monsieur Lazhar'', as Liesel Meminger in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel ''The Book Thief'', written by ...
, at 11 years old, tied for the youngest Genie winner in the history of the award ceremony.
Nina Petronzio
Nina Petronzio (born 15 October 1979) is a Canadian American interior and furniture designer, and actress. An ASID Industry member, she is best known for her high-end, Transitional style interior designs and Plush Home furniture line.
Childho ...
was also 11 when she won
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
for ''
Vincent and Me
''Vincent and Me'' ( French-language title: ''Vincent et moi'') is a 1990 French Canadian fantasy film. The movie was directed by Michael Rubbo and is the 11th in the '' Tales for All (Contes Pour Tous)'' series of children's movies created by ...
'' in 1991.
See also
*
*
References
External links
* (Archive)
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monsieur Lazhar
2011 films
2011 drama films
Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Canadian drama films
Films about educators
Films about immigration
Films about suicide
Films based on Canadian plays
Films directed by Philippe Falardeau
Films set in Montreal
Films set in schools
Films shot in Montreal
Best Film Prix Iris winners
French-language Canadian films
Arabic-language Canadian films
2010s Canadian films