To Be and to Have
| To Be and to Have (Être et avoir) |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Nicolas Philibert |
| Produced by | Gilles Sandoz |
| Written by | Nicolas Philibert |
| Music by | Philippe Hersant |
| Cinematography | Laurent Didier Katell Djian Hugues Gemignani Nicolas Philibert |
| Edited by | Nicolas Philibert |
| Distributed by | Les Films du Losange |
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Release date
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Running time
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104 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | €1 million |
| Box office | $16.1 million |
To Be and To Have (French: Être et avoir; also the UK title) is a 2002 French documentary film directed by Nicolas Philibert about a small rural school. It was screened as an "Out of Competition" film at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and achieved commercial success. The film became the subject of an unsuccessful legal action by the school's teacher, who said that he and the children's parents had been misled about the film's intended audience, and that he and the children had been exploited.
The documentary's title translates as "to be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages (from four to twelve years), with a dedicated teacher, Mr Lopez, who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.
The film won several awards, including the 2003 Sacramento French Film Festival Audience Prize.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97%, based on 59 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A small, sensitive, and moving portrait of a teacher and his students." On Metacritic the film has a score of 87 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Following the film's popularity in cinemas, Lopez, the principal personality in the documentary, made an unsuccessful attempt to sue the documentary's makers for a share of the €2 million profit. One of his main claims was that the film-makers had exploited his image without authorisation. French film unions warned that if Lopez had been successful it would have spelt "the death of the documentary, undermining the crucial principle that subjects should not be paid to participate".
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