The Teachers' Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer) is a 2023 German drama film, directed by İlker Çatak, and starring Leonie Benesch.
Carla Nowak (Benesch) is a teacher at a German school dealing with a problem: there is a thief who's been lifting cash from people. Students are suspected, and the investigations are disrupting her class, so she does her own investigation, unwittingly setting off an avalanche of internal problems within the school.
This film provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: Despite clear video evidence that Mrs. Kuhn was the thief, she consistently denies it, and Carla is filled with doubts that the footage was misleading after all.
- Imagine Spot: At one point the stressed-out Carla sees another woman wearing the same blouse that incriminated Mrs. Kuhn, followed by another, and eventually dozens of people walking by.
- No Ending: The major plot points all end up unresolved. It's unknown what, if any, legal action will result from the theft, Mrs. Kuhn's firing, or Carla's secret recording, and tensions between everyone remain high. The film ends with Oskar, having refused to leave school despite his suspension, being carried out by the police.
- Profiling: The first suspect is a Turkish student, which leads to accusations of racism from the class against the faculty.
- Stealing from the Till: Carla observes one faculty member casually taking a few coins from the piggy bank in the teachers' lounge, which leads her to become suspicious and record her jacket with her laptop while she is away.
