IAH-207-733 (W6)

Review Reviewed Work(s): Monsieur Lazhar by Philippe Falardeau, Mohammed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse and Émilien Néron Review by: Miléna Santoro Source: The French Review, Vol. 86, No. 2 (December 2012), pp. 373-374 Published by: American Association of Teachers of French Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41710389 Accessed: 08-09-2018 01:08 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide

range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and

facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at

https://about.jstor.org/terms

American Association of Teachers of French is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The French Review

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Sat, 08 Sep 2018 01:08:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

Reviews 373

un choix pourrait en effet laisser croire qu'aucune considération esthétique ne préside au travail du réalisateur. Les mauvaises langues affirmeront sans doute que son autobiographie est en cela le fidèle reflet de son œuvre: vivante mais guère inspirée.

University of Pennsylvania François Massonnat

Falardeau, Philippe, réal. Monsieur Lazhar. Int. Mohammed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Emilien Néron. micro_scope, 2011.

Algerian-born playwright and comedian Fellag has starred in some dozen films since the eighties, and his 2011 one-man show, Petits chocs des civilisations, reflects almost two decades of self-imposed exile and cultural adaptation in France. In Monsieur Lazhar , Fellag' s turn in the title role as an Algerian refugee teaching in a Montreal elementary school is thus a compelling portrait of forced migration, resonant of his own life experience. Based on the play Bashir Lazhar (2002) by Evelyne de la Chenelière, who cameos in the film, Monsieur Lazhar re- ceived nine nominations for both the Jutra and Genie Awards. It was also warmly received in the festival circuit, winning several prizes, and garnering an Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, the second consecutive year Canada's nomination was a finalist (201 l's contender, Villeneuve' s Incendies, is reviewed in the French Review 85.4).

Anchored by Fellag' s performance, the story of Monsieur Lazhar, whose over- determined name, as he explains, means "bringer of good news" (Bashir) and "luck" (Lazhar), is in fact one of trauma and loss - both personal and collective, given that the former teacher of the fourth-graders he inherits hanged herself in their classroom. That she too bears a name invoking luck (Lachance) is one of the film's more obvious ironies. After such an unfortunate catalyst, the narrative de- picts how Lazhar manages to connect with these children through his under- standing of their grief, which transcends considerable cultural and even linguistic barriers. Indeed, Quebec's contemporary cultural heterogeneity is highlighted by an amusing scene where the students explain their hyphenated names that reveal familial experiences of migration and cultural mixité. Falardeau' s judicious use of humor in portraying cultural difference and personal foibles is counterbalanced by moments of uncompromising lucidity, as when Lazhar rejects a colleague's facile romanticizing of his exile by pointing out how immigrants often face living with illegality, poverty, unemployment and uncertainty. The film is most com- pelling, however, in its development of the relationship between students like Simon and Julie, both of whom saw the suspended body of their former teacher, and Lazhar, who encourages them to find words for their pain, and who finds ways to console them despite the institutional interdiction of physical contact be- tween teachers and pupils. Simon's ultimate confession of his survivor's guilt finds a parallel with Lazhar' s own testimony at his refugee hearing, for his story must also be told for his legal status to be legitimized. Language is thus shown to be a means of self-affirmation and narrative recovery, allowing for something new to emerge, like the butterfly from the chrysalis, an image applicable to both the children and the refugee who must remake himself, sometimes under false pretenses, in a society where qualifications matter more than the human capacity for caring.

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Sat, 08 Sep 2018 01:08:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

374 FRENCH REVIEW 86.2

Falardeau's deft direction of the child actors and his casting of Fellag in an uncharacteristically dramatic role in this film are a testimony to his skill and vi- sion, as is the screenplay that the filmmaker brilliantly adapted from the original play, in which Lazhar was the only character, speaking in monologue. Falardeau's experience in working with children, particularly in C'est pas moi , je le jure! (2008), and his previous explorations of the theme of identity, specifically in La moitié gauche du frigo (2000), a theme complicated by the issue of migration in Congorama (2006) and the documentary Pâté chinois (1997), can certainly be seen as contribut- ing factors to the emotional depth and authenticity Monsieur Lazhar achieves. It is this latter film, however, that has propelled Falardeau into an elite new genera- tion of world class Quebec directors, and it is this eminently teachable, inspiring story of cross-generational and cross-cultural communication that makes him one to watch.

Georgetown University (DC) Miléna Santoro

Maïwenn, réal. Polisse. Int. Karin Viard, Joey Starr, Marina Fois, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Maïwenn. Trésor, 2011.

Avec son quatrième film (Prix du Jury au Festival de Cannes 2011), Maïwenn plonge le spectateur dans le quotidien des policiers de la Brigade de Protection des Mineurs (BPM) de Paris. C'est sans complaisance que la réalisatrice fait un portrait humain, touchant et réaliste de cette brigade de police essentielle et pourtant délaissée au profit de la brigade des stupéfiants. Polisse suit une unité dans ses enquêtes les plus traditionnelles et révoltantes, telles que les gardes à vue de pédophiles ou les examens de parents maltraitants, mais aussi dans des affaires plus bénignes, telles que les dérives de la sexualité chez les adolescents ou la petite délinquance juvénile. Les membres de cette brigade s'efforcent de faire leur travail, tout en protégeant ce qui permet de continuer à faire ce travail difficile, c'est à dire la pause-déjeuner où l'on se raconte ses problèmes de couple ou autres petits moments anodins, quand ils se retrouvent en présence de Melissa, mandatée par le ministère de l'Intérieur pour réaliser un reportage- photo sur leur brigade. Alors que certains tentent d'intégrer Melissa, Fred, le dur au cœur tendre du groupe, a du mal à l'accepter. Il se méfie des stratégies ad- ministratives qui nuisent à l'efficacité et à l'image de la brigade. Cependant, la mystérieuse et silencieuse Melissa observe sans intentions cachées, sans mépris ou même jugement, et elle s'intègre peu à peu à l'équipe et séduit Fred. On découvre alors la solidarité entre coéquipiers et les fous rires incontrôlables aux moments les plus impensables. Ils savent que le pire les attend et tentent malgré tout de faire avec.

Dans une atmosphère de documentaire renforcée par la présence d'une photojournaliste incarnée par la réalisatrice elle-même, Polisse invite le spectateur à s'interroger sur la difficulté de conjuguer vie personnelle et professionnelle, quand cette dernière est si rude. C'est aussi le constat troublant d'une France d'aujourd'hui où l'enfance est encore trop souvent maltraitée et où les agents protecteurs n'ont pas toujours les moyens d'intervenir, pour des raisons politiques ou financières. La réalisatrice a observé une brigade pendant plusieurs mois et suivi ses membres dans tous leurs déplacements et temps de repos pour comprendre et s'imprégner de l'ambiance qui entoure la BPM. Inspirée par une faute d'orthographe faite par son

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Sat, 08 Sep 2018 01:08:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms