June 15 - Laurent Cantet

Happy 59th Birthday, Laurent Cantet! Born today in 1961, this French cinematographer, screenwriter and film director is one of the leading contemporary filmmakers in France. His parents were schoolteachers in Ardilleux. 

 
In the early 2000s Cantet directed a film of which he is known, being the 2001 French drama/psychological thriller film 'L'Emploi du temps'('Time Out'). 

 
It was later placed at #99 on Slant Magazine's best films of the 2000s, #9 of The Guardian's Best Films of the Noughties, and #11 at The A.V. 

 
Seven years later, Cantet co-wrote and directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 2008 French drama/comedy drama film 'Entre les murs' (literally 'Between the walls'). However, the film is best known as 'The Class'. 

 
The film tells of Francois Marin (François Bégaudeau). He is a French language and literature teacher at an inner-city Paris high school.  

 
As the new school year begins, he introduces himself to his new class and begins the arduous process of reaching out to each of them.  

 
Marin encounters his share of problem students, teen violence, ethnic tensions between classmates and education barriers within the group, all of which test his patience and -- more importantly -- his resolve as an educator. 

 
The film is based on French writer, journalist and actor Françios Bégaudeau's 2006 semi-autobiographical fiction novel Entre les murs. Bégaudeau also co-wrote and starred in the lead role. 

 
In his novel, it tells of the account of Bégaudeau's experiences as a French language and literature teacher in a middle school in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, particularly illuminating his struggles with "problem children": 

 
These included Esmerelda (Esmeralda Ouertani), Khoumba (Rachel Regulier), and Souleymane (Franck Keïta). 

 
In May 2008, for the first time in twenty-one years, a French film had taken the top prize at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. 

 
This made 'The Class' the first French film to do so since the late 1980s. The was when French film director, screenwriter and actor Maurice Pialat ('Loulou') won the award for his 1987 French drama film 'Sous le soleil de Satan' ('Under the Sun of Satan').

 
In in a rarity for Cannes, the Palme d’Or was awarded unanimously, as jury lead Sean Penn presented the accolades. 

 
The following year, 'The Class' was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost to the 2008 Japanese drama/music film 'Okuribito' ('Departures'). This occurred at the 81st Academy Awards in late February 2009. 

 
Cantet's work repeatedly engages with questions of power and his different films deal with the new world of work, the Republican school, its utopian capacities and hidden inequalities, and the asymmetrical power relations of tourism in a neo-colonial context. 

 
He has also taken part in various mobilisations by French film professionals in support of groups such as paperless migrants. He could thus be seen as a committed filmmaker, but not one that necessarily follows earlier models.  

 
Cantet's working methods also suggest an awareness of the politics of the film-making process itself. 

Although he co-writes his films and sometimes adapts existing works, he also invites his often non-professional actors to participate in the elaboration of the script in a deliberate letting go of his own power.  

 
Cantet has been active from 1987–present. 

 
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