An outstanding performance from Leonie Benesch in Ilker Çatak’s German-language Oscar-nominated The Teachers’ Lounge / Das Lehrerzimmer is another in the line of school-based dramas currently doing the rounds.
It may have slipped many people’s attention, but German was the language of two of the films nominated in the International Feature Film category at the 2024 Academy Awards. Although the eventual (and deserved) winner was British director Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, the submission from Germany was actually The Teachers’ Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer), a film which has just screened at Manchester Film Festival a few days ahead of its full UK release.
Films with a strong school setting seem to be in vogue at the moment (Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grassesand Kore-eda Hirozaku’s Monster are two which have screened around these parts in the space of a few days), and Das Lehrerzimmer, Ilker Çatak’s latest feature,is now added to the list.
Taking place in an unnamed school in an anonymous city in Germany, Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is a relatively new teacher who, early on in proceedings, studiously defends a student accused of stealing money and quietly questions the somewhat manipulative investigative methods of the headteacher and other staff. Shortly afterwards, money is stolen in the staff room (which, incidentally, is the more professional-sounding, less relaxation-centred name for the staff-only space in UK schools) and Carla attempts to find the culprit, presumably in a bid to totally exonerate her student.
As a teacher of mathematics, she has already explained to her class that proof is required for something to be a fact, and so when she thinks she has the necessary proof of theft, her challenge of the suspect triggers events in a way that she could not have imagined. Carla barely does anything wrong, but misunderstandings, weak leadership, and unexpected reactions gradually create a situation of creeping tension both in the staff room and the classroom. The claustrophobia of anxiety is only heightened by Çatak’s choice of 4:3 ratio throughout, and the decision to set everything within the walls of the school. We learn nothing about Carla’s life outside of school, and only pick up scraps about the students’ homelives when parents attend for a parents’ meeting. The focus is totally on the mini-society and its hierarchies within the school, and the various relationships between classmates and colleagues.
Das Lehrerzimmer is a film which superbly captures this microcosm and asks several questions about leadership, inherent racism, gossip, the burden of proof, and media truth, any of which could just as easily be asked of larger organisations, enterprises, or nations as a whole while keeping everything on a very human level.
The writers (Çatak and his friend from his own school days Johannes Duncker) have clearly done their homework (sorry not sorry) on classroom behaviour, dynamics, and interactions, as the dialogue comes across as very authentic, and the group of young actors playing the classmates are a perfect ensemble of individuals. Leonie Benesch herself is outstanding; she is both completely believable when in front of the class, and also capable of silently portraying the rising panic through her eyes alone as she feels the situation slipping beyond her control.
One of the strengths of Das Lehrerzimmer is that it poses questions, but does not seek to answer them. The final scene is perhaps a little unexpected but also seems to be asking whether 21st-century youth may have the tools to exercise more power over their destinies than may be imagined. The audience will need to decide for themselves.
The Teachers’ Lounge / Das Lehrerzimmer played at the Manchester Film Festival 2024.
An outstanding performance from Leonie Benesch in Ilker Çatak’s German-language Oscar-nominated The Teachers’ Lounge / Das Lehrerzimmer is another in the line of school-based dramas currently doing the rounds.
It may have slipped many people’s attention, but German was the language of two of the films nominated in the International Feature Film category at the 2024 Academy Awards. Although the eventual (and deserved) winner was British director Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, the submission from Germany was actually The Teachers’ Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer), a film which has just screened at Manchester Film Festival a few days ahead of its full UK release.
Films with a strong school setting seem to be in vogue at the moment (Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses and Kore-eda Hirozaku’s Monster are two which have screened around these parts in the space of a few days), and Das Lehrerzimmer, Ilker Çatak’s latest feature, is now added to the list.
Taking place in an unnamed school in an anonymous city in Germany, Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is a relatively new teacher who, early on in proceedings, studiously defends a student accused of stealing money and quietly questions the somewhat manipulative investigative methods of the headteacher and other staff. Shortly afterwards, money is stolen in the staff room (which, incidentally, is the more professional-sounding, less relaxation-centred name for the staff-only space in UK schools) and Carla attempts to find the culprit, presumably in a bid to totally exonerate her student.
As a teacher of mathematics, she has already explained to her class that proof is required for something to be a fact, and so when she thinks she has the necessary proof of theft, her challenge of the suspect triggers events in a way that she could not have imagined. Carla barely does anything wrong, but misunderstandings, weak leadership, and unexpected reactions gradually create a situation of creeping tension both in the staff room and the classroom. The claustrophobia of anxiety is only heightened by Çatak’s choice of 4:3 ratio throughout, and the decision to set everything within the walls of the school. We learn nothing about Carla’s life outside of school, and only pick up scraps about the students’ homelives when parents attend for a parents’ meeting. The focus is totally on the mini-society and its hierarchies within the school, and the various relationships between classmates and colleagues.
Das Lehrerzimmer is a film which superbly captures this microcosm and asks several questions about leadership, inherent racism, gossip, the burden of proof, and media truth, any of which could just as easily be asked of larger organisations, enterprises, or nations as a whole while keeping everything on a very human level.
The writers (Çatak and his friend from his own school days Johannes Duncker) have clearly done their homework (sorry not sorry) on classroom behaviour, dynamics, and interactions, as the dialogue comes across as very authentic, and the group of young actors playing the classmates are a perfect ensemble of individuals. Leonie Benesch herself is outstanding; she is both completely believable when in front of the class, and also capable of silently portraying the rising panic through her eyes alone as she feels the situation slipping beyond her control.
One of the strengths of Das Lehrerzimmer is that it poses questions, but does not seek to answer them. The final scene is perhaps a little unexpected but also seems to be asking whether 21st-century youth may have the tools to exercise more power over their destinies than may be imagined. The audience will need to decide for themselves.
The Teachers’ Lounge / Das Lehrerzimmer played at the Manchester Film Festival 2024.
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