Curator Watchlist
A restrained, deeply humane grief drama that finds real feeling in the classroom without slipping into sentimentality. It’s especially rewarding if you like understated performances, social realism, and stories about how adults and children process loss differently.
Where to watch: Buy
Sat · 1h 34m
Director: Philippe Falardeau
Starring: Mohamed Fellag, Émilien Néron, Danielle Proulx
During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.
Philippe Falardeau
Mohamed Fellag, Émilien Néron, Danielle Proulx
A restrained, deeply humane grief drama that finds real feeling in the classroom without slipping into sentimentality. It’s especially rewarding if you like understated performances, social realism, and stories about how adults and children process loss differently.
Monsieur Lazhar is one of those films that trusts silence, awkwardness, and small gestures to do the heavy lifting. Philippe Falardeau keeps the tone measured and humane, letting the classroom become a fragile space where grief is both managed and mismanaged, often by people who barely know how to name it. The result is tender without being sentimental, and honest without feeling cold.
What makes it stand out is the way it refuses the usual inspirational-teacher arc. Bachir is not a savior, and the children are not symbols; they are wounded people trying to continue. The film is especially strong in how it contrasts adult institutions with the emotional reality of children, and in how it folds Bachir’s own displacement into the story without over-explaining it.
The performances, especially from the children, give the movie its quiet force. It’s patient, observant cinema with a mournful afterglow, and it lingers because it understands that grief doesn’t resolve neatly. Instead, it gets carried forward, awkwardly and imperfectly, into the next day.
avenland (5★) · 152 likes
it's life that's violent, not the text.
Paul S (4★) · 137 likes
Rice Krispie Squares are like baklava Quebec style.
Ella (4.5★) · 121 likes
"Boris, get some air. It's easy, put on your coat, open your eyes, open your nostrils.Breathe, run around, play.Fly away if you can.You'll see that your migraine has flown away too." Note: Honestly, this is one of the hardest reviews I've written. I have written many versions of it over the past few months, trying to do it the justice it deserves without being overwhelmingly personal. I hope this works, even though it isn't very analytical. When… more
.-. · 73 likes
I’m actually really shocked at how good these kids acted.
jackiezies (4★) · 65 likes
the pictures of algiers taped to the desk yes i cried
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grief and mourning, suicide aftermath, classroom dynamics, immigration and asylum, emotional repression, childhood trauma, healing through routine, institutional bureaucracy
drama, social realism, grief, immigration, classroom, trauma, quiet tone, coming-of-age, Canadian cinema, understated