History Film / TheClass

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A 2008 French film ("Entre les Murs" in the original, meaning "Between the Walls"). The character of the protagonist is largely based on the experiences of the French and literature teacher François Bégaudeau in a school in an arrondissement of Paris. It shows his struggles with the often difficult but also very likeable and interesting kids. Bégaudeau himself plays the role of the teacher M. Marin. It's also almost like watching a documentary, it feels as if you're actually peeking into the classroom.

The film won the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, as well as some other awards and making it into many top 10 of 2008 lists.

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!!This film includes examples of:
* AsianAndNerdy: Wei does particularly well at math and works hard to improve his weaker subjects. His parents are concerned that he is pushing himself too far.
* BerserkButton: Esmeralda remains a distant snarker for most of the class until [[spoiler:Francois calls her a skank.]]
* BigGame: Averted. Unlike many films about education (especially in the US), there is no high-stakes test (''Stand and Deliver''), dance contest (''Take the Lead''), karate tournament (''The Karate Kid''), or other goal for the students to work toward under their teacher's wise guidance in order to overcome their humble origins and society's prejudices. Instead, it's just another school year.
* {{Determinator}}: Francois is determined not only to educate his students, but to discover what gets his students to tick and from that want to learn more from their class.
* EducationMama: Inverted. Wei's parents are worried that he pushes himself too hard in his schoolwork.
* ExactWords: Francois tries to backpedal out of the fact that [[spoiler:he lost his temper and called two of his students "skanks"]] by claiming [[spoiler:he only said their actions made them ''look'' like skanks.]] Nobody cares.
* MightyWhitey: Averted (see also SaveOurStudents below).
* MistakenForGay: Francois finds out some of his students think he's gay. He takes it pretty calmly however, and just prods those who think so by asking them why they'd have a problem with it if he is. It's not enough to tame his students for good, but enough to shut the rumors up.
* TheQuietOne: Henriette, who only speaks up at the end of the film to say she didn't learn anything.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Esmeralda and her friend Khoumba to an extent.
* SaveOurStudents: A deconstruction. For once, the white teacher isn't able to single-handly save his minority students and [[spoiler:Souleymane is expelled.]]
* SchoolIsForLosers: Kind of the attitude of Soulyemane and his friends in the beginning.
* SchoolStudyMedia: In-universe the pupils have to read ''Literature/TheDiaryOfAYoungGirl''. The film itself is also studied in RealLife classrooms.
* WorldOfSnark
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* AsianAndNerdy: Wei

* EducationMama: Inverted. Wei's parents are worried that he pushes himself too hard in his schoolwork

* TheQuietOne: Henriette

* DawsonCasting: [[AvertedTrope Averted]].

A 2008 French film ("Entre les Murs" in the original, meaning "Between the Walls"). The character of the protagonist is largely based on the experiences of the French and literature teacher François Bégaudeau in a school in an arrondissement of Paris. It shows his struggles with the often difficult but also very likeable and interesting kids. Bégaudeau himself plays the role of the teacher. M. Marin. It's also almost like watching a documentary, it feels as if you're actually peeking into the classroom.

* MistakenForGay: Francois finds out some of his students think he's gay. He takes it pretty calmly however, and just prods those who think so by asking them why they would have a problem with it if he is. It's not enough to tame his students for good, but enough to shut the rumors up.

* MistakenForGay: Francois finds out some of his students think he's gay. He takes it pretty calmly however, and just prods those who think so by asking them why they would have a problem with it if he was. It's not enough to tame his students for good, but enough to shut the rumors up.

* SchoolStudyMedia: In-universe the pupils have to read TheDiaryofAnneFrank. The film itself is also studied in RealLife classrooms.

A 2008 French film ("Entre les Murs" in the original, meaning "Between the Walls"). The character of the protagonist is largely based on the experiences of the French and literature teacher François Bégaudeau in a school in an arrondissement of Paris. It shows his struggles with the often difficult but also very likeable and interesting kids. Bégaudeau himself plays the role of the teacher. It's also almost like watching a documentary, it feels as if you're actually peeking into the classroom.

* SchoolStudyMedia: In-universe the pupils have to read The Diary of Anne Frank and the film itself.

A 2008 French film ("Entre les murs" in the original, meaning "Between the walls"). The character of the protagonist is largely based on the experiences of the French and literature teacher François Bégaudeau in a school in an arrondissement of Paris. It shows his struggles with the often difficult but also very likeable and interesting kids. Bégaudeau himself plays the role of the teacher. It's also almost like watching a documentary, it feels as if you're actually peeking into the classroom.