Monsieur Lazhar
| Monsieur Lazhar | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Philippe Falardeau |
| Produced by |
Luc Déry Kim McCraw |
| Screenplay by | Philippe Falardeau |
| Story by | Évelyne de la Chenelière |
| Starring |
Mohamed Fellag Sophie Nélisse Émilien Néron Danielle Proulx Brigitte Poupart Jules Philip |
| Music by | Martin Léon, Sherya Ghoshal |
| Cinematography | Ronald Plante |
| Edited by | Stéphane Lafleur |
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Production
company |
Microscope Productions
Les Films Seville Pictures |
| Distributed by |
Music Box Films Christal Films Arsenal Filmverleih Agora Films UGC International Seville Pictures A Contracorriente Films Thim Film Europafilm Distribution Company |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | French |
| Box office | $6.6 million |
Monsieur Lazhar is a 2011 Canadian French-language drama film directed by Philippe Falardeau. The screenplay was developed from Bashir Lazhar, a one-character play by Évelyne de la Chenelière. The film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards. The film was released theatrically in the United States on 13 April 2012 by distributor Music Box Films.
In Montreal, an elementary school teacher hangs herself. Bashir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant, then offers his services to replace her, claiming to have taught in his home country. Desperate to fill the position, the principal takes him at his word and gives him the job. He gets to know his students despite the cultural gap evident from the very first day of class and despite 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 Bashir's painful past, or his precarious status as a refugee. 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 huge crimes. The film goes on to explore Bashir'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.
Bashir 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. Bashir 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 Bashir has no teaching qualification; 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, Bashir 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.
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