By Ian Kane
PG-13 | 1h 35m | Comedy, Drama | 2012
Set in a primary school in snowy Montreal, “Monsieur Lazhar” opens with a sudden absence. A classroom loses its teacher. In her place arrives Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), an Algerian man with a calm manner and a mysterious past.
Beginnings Born From Tragedy
A teacher hangs herself in a Montreal classroom and a substitute arrives. He is quiet and a bit out of sync with regular teaching. Bachir Lazhar isn’t who he claims to be on paper, but the school, still reeling from the loss of their beloved teacher from suicide, accepts him without much scrutiny.
He immediately senses that the children are still unsettled. Their former classroom is freshly repainted, but it feels haunted just the same. Some students lash out, others retreat, but most have questions they aren’t ready to ask.
Bachir brings an old-fashioned gentleness, dictating Balzac to the children and rearranging their desks to fit his own rhythm. His French is formal and “old-fashioned,” his lessons unusual, but his presence begins to steady the children in the classroom.
Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag) and his students, in “Monsieur Lazhar.” GJW+
Unbeknown to everyone, he’s grieving too. His own loss, half a world away, mirrors the confusion and hurt he sees in his students. Where others offer clinical solutions, he offers small tokens of kindness, trying to reach children that no one knows how to comfort.
As the days pass, moments of connection flicker through the frigid environs—a story shared, and questions finally voiced. Bachir, though carrying his own burdens, gives the class something they haven’t had since the beginning: someone simply willing to listen.
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Initially, the school isn’t quite sure what to do with him; he doesn’t fit the mold, isn’t trained in their methods, and prefers old-school dictation to modern pedagogy. Still, he’s allowed to stay. The children need someone. So does he.
Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), in “Monsieur Lazhar.” GJW+
A Quiet Approach
Rather than leaning into heavy drama or sentiment, the film observes rather than instructs, listens more than lectures. Lazhar’s presence in the classroom grows gradually. The kids don’t transform overnight. They begin to ask questions; some he answers, some he can’t. What unfolds is more about how many folks carry loss, and how no two people ever carry it quite the same way.
The setup might sound familiar—a new teacher stepping into a shaken class— but “Monsieur Lazhar” sidesteps the standard formula. It doesn’t aim to deliver life lessons in bold strokes. Instead, it offers a series of honest moments: a shared look in silence, a slip of the tongue, a book given to help with lessons. The performances, especially from the children, are restrained and believable, giving the story space to breathe. What lingers isn’t a moral, but a mood: gentle, searching, a little unresolved.
Children struggling to cope with loss: Simon (Émilien Néron) and Alice (Sophie Nélisse), in “Monsieur Lazhar.” GJW+
Different Classroom Story
Viewers might expect “Monsieur Lazhar” to be another inspiring-teacher-changes-lives kind of movie. You know the usual tropes: slow claps, end-of-term breakthroughs, everyone learns a lesson—cue the strings section. Instead, it’s something much more subtle and honest.
Gentle Connections: Alice (Sophie Nélisse) and Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), in “Monsieur Lazhar.” GJW+
Bachir isn’t exactly a typical savior. He’s a guy who shows up at a snow-covered school with some Balzac quotes and no real credentials, and somehow that’s exactly what the kids (and maybe the school) needs.
It’s hard not to like him. He’s awkward, over-polite, and mildly allergic to modern teaching methods. He rearranges desks like it’s going to fix the universe, enforces discipline in his own ways, and winces every time someone suggests that he “follow the rules.” But he listens. He pays attention in a way that no one else does, not just to what the kids are saying but also to what they are not saying.
The school, meanwhile, is doing its best under a mountain of policies and performance reviews. Administrators are boxed in, the counselor reads like someone following an HR manual, and teachers look like they’ve seen five too many budget meetings. It’s not that the staff and teachers don’t care; they just don’t know how to care anymore, not in a system that doesn’t make space for grief or uncertainty. Bachir doesn’t fix that, but he doesn’t go along with it either.
There’s something endearingly lopsided about his whole approach. He’s a man carrying his own invisible wreckage, trying to teach kids how to process theirs. He fumbles. He oversteps. He shows favorites. Yet, somehow, that flawed human mess of a person becomes the one adult at the school who is willing to be honest when it counts.
In the end, the film doesn’t hand us a grand speech or splashy moment of redemption. What it offers instead is a soft landing: a few kind words and gestures of appreciation and understanding.
“Monsieur Lazhar” is available on GJW+.
‘Monsieur Lazhar’ Director: Philippe Falardeau Starring: Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Émilien Néron MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes Release Date: April 13, 2012 Rated: 4 stars out of 5
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