The Teachers' Lounge may not tell us anything we don't already know (or assume to) about the perils and very real dangers of accusations or, moreover, what "Cancelling" looks like when people are more likely than not to believe someone who has been accused before the accuser - especially with circumstances that seem, well, fishy. Nor will we necessarily leave having some grander idea about how painful and bad it is to be accusatory for subjects when their ethnicity or race (ie Ali early in the film) or nationality (even Ms Nowak being Polish and her having to put on the German voice, until she's found out to be Polish by the newspaper, ever hear this Polish joke, etc).
But I was most taken with this as much as if not moreso the personal aspect or simple/not so simple humanity of the situation, or the lack of it/the damnation of it all, when trying to still be a teacher who Can Reach These Kids(TM)(!) It's not a cynical film even as it deals and reckons with a cynical society, and since we are in this teachers pov we want to be on her side (to a fault, perhaps). The script could have pitfalls, for too grandiose an actor, but Leonie Benesch gives an outstanding performance as someone who, arguably (or just), is too good a person for this particular job.
Or, if you take another point of view, who doesn't see the problem with being so trusting, or butting into things not her own business, that people will do the right thing. It's tricky to play composure-under-immesurable-stress without going too far into melodrama, but she finds the tone that is just right for every scene, especially with Stettesch as Oskar, the kid who believes her thieving mother (OR DID SHE?!! Nah she probably did).
And throughout, the depictions of students and other faculty seem if not accurate (my time in Academia is college not grade school so different frame of reference and all) then appropriate and striking, especially how the kids in class are a good mix of trying to understand and then totally breaking down and going into rebellion and disorder. And how exactly the teacher tries to reckon with this (and stop doing that silly Green Acres-sounding clap riff, going from conductor to nuisance) is also intense. If anything, the movie could be longer and would benefit from a little more space for the filmmakers to wrestle with some of the themes that are compacted into the stress of the scenario. In other words, maybe an extra scene or two with the kid and his mom?
After all, would you believe a dumb teacher over your own *mother*? Boy's best friend, etc. At any rate, put this on a double feature with Kor-eda's Monster also from this year and you will probably, if you have kids, will really have to look extra hard at how your school works.
But I was most taken with this as much as if not moreso the personal aspect or simple/not so simple humanity of the situation, or the lack of it/the damnation of it all, when trying to still be a teacher who Can Reach These Kids(TM)(!) It's not a cynical film even as it deals and reckons with a cynical society, and since we are in this teachers pov we want to be on her side (to a fault, perhaps). The script could have pitfalls, for too grandiose an actor, but Leonie Benesch gives an outstanding performance as someone who, arguably (or just), is too good a person for this particular job.
Or, if you take another point of view, who doesn't see the problem with being so trusting, or butting into things not her own business, that people will do the right thing. It's tricky to play composure-under-immesurable-stress without going too far into melodrama, but she finds the tone that is just right for every scene, especially with Stettesch as Oskar, the kid who believes her thieving mother (OR DID SHE?!! Nah she probably did).
And throughout, the depictions of students and other faculty seem if not accurate (my time in Academia is college not grade school so different frame of reference and all) then appropriate and striking, especially how the kids in class are a good mix of trying to understand and then totally breaking down and going into rebellion and disorder. And how exactly the teacher tries to reckon with this (and stop doing that silly Green Acres-sounding clap riff, going from conductor to nuisance) is also intense. If anything, the movie could be longer and would benefit from a little more space for the filmmakers to wrestle with some of the themes that are compacted into the stress of the scenario. In other words, maybe an extra scene or two with the kid and his mom?
After all, would you believe a dumb teacher over your own *mother*? Boy's best friend, etc. At any rate, put this on a double feature with Kor-eda's Monster also from this year and you will probably, if you have kids, will really have to look extra hard at how your school works.