X
- 2023
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 38 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 38 m
Summary Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is a dedicated, idealistic young teacher in her first job at a German middle school. Her relaxed rapport with her seventh-grade students is put under stress when a series of thefts occur at the school, and a staff investigation leads to accusations and mistrust among outraged parents, opinionated colleagues, ...
Directed By: Ilker Çatak
Written By: Johannes Duncker, Ilker Çatak
- 2023
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 38 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 38 m
The Teachers' Lounge
8.1
Where to Watch
Summary Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is a dedicated, idealistic young teacher in her first job at a German middle school. Her relaxed rapport with her seventh-grade students is put under stress when a series of thefts occur at the school, and a staff investigation leads to accusations and mistrust among outraged parents, opinionated colleagues, ...
Directed By: Ilker Çatak
Written By: Johannes Duncker, Ilker Çatak
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
82
95% Positive
20 Reviews
20 Reviews
5% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
82
95% Positive
20 Reviews
20 Reviews
5% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The script, by Johannes Duncker and director Ilker Çatak, grabs the viewer from the get-go. Judith Kaufmann’s urgent, claustrophobic cinematography tightens the vice-like grip.
Taking on the uneasy complexity of a progressive modern society, and the friction produced when pluralism and an insistence on order and obedience collide, is a bold move, and The Teachers’ Lounge pulls it off with a sense of tension that makes the whole thing play like a thriller.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 39 User Ratings
8.1
87% Positive
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
8% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
5% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 39 User Ratings
8.1
87% Positive
34 Ratings
34 Ratings
8% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
5% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
“The Teacher's Lounge”, through the ambiguities of the microcosm (teachers, pupils, parents) **** school, shows us a complex and terrible social x-ray (German, European) in which a precarious and apparent balance is implacably broken; and the right to privacy, educational responsibility, the dignity of people, but above all idealism, empathy, human understanding and the search for truth end up becoming the greatest defeats. All the characters involved, in various orders and degrees, are the victims, destabilized and inadequate, of an already subtly tense and frustrating situation, as well as of a crisis (also found on a social level) of interpersonal relationships, characterized by ambiguous, ambivalent, and morally questionable attitudes (even if often humanly understandable, as in the case of the film). Democracy and respect immediately give way to conflict (which gradually deactivates common sense, rational thinking) and open war (made up of petty and deceptive strategies). Gradually all semblances of respectability and humanity fall away: teachers reveal selfishness and poor ability to educate students; parents go to great lengths to save the good image of their children; young people replicate the behavior of adults in a disturbing way. The screenplay presents us with a chilling narrative mechanism that is both diabolical and Kafkaesque of actions and reactions, inserted into three levels of reading: the most immediate one, the school environment and the failures of the education and training system; the second, more allegorical, of historical-political denunciation; the third, more connotative, which records the failure of a point of view or an ideality always contradicted by the complex and unpredictable dynamics of events. Innocents and manipulators will become confused within this destructive mechanism in which even the most noble of intentions can be tainted by human imperfections and chaos, by those situations and conditions that are involuntarily set in motion and ruin everything. Unfortunately, failure is always around the corner, despite the personal commitment that is put into building a sought-after general harmony, and despite the dream that was nurtured for this harmony between all the parties involved. A dream of humanity and of everything that is noble and constructive, which **** against an unfortunately dissonant, problematic, unwelcome reality. There are many strong points of this film work. Tense staging, between thriller and documentary, and nightmarish atmospheres. Themes and narrative, interesting and original. Compact and convincing cast. Direction, editing and music each in their own functional style, very effective. In short, a film of great quality, with a strong emotional impact and very reflective (due to the overwhelming barrage of unsolvable moral dilemmas, but not only...). The nomination for best international film at the Oscars is well deserved. Score (in tenths): 7.50 / 8
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Don’t miss this nail-biting thriller in which director İlker Çatak and sensational star Leonie Benesch turn a tale of petty theft at a German middle school into a battle between freedom of expression and institutional control all too easy to recognize as our own.
Çatak’s film turns out to be less intrigued by where the missing money actually goes than how the school reacts to its disappearance: as a sort of loose organism purging itself of impurities as its collective survival instinct kicks in. It’s a sound lesson in politics – or is it biology? – but more importantly, it’s a chalk-snappingly tense watch.
Ilker Çatak, a German writer-director of Turkish descent, has shrewdly crafted a taut and tight examination of the concept of justice folded into an absorbing character study.
The Teachers’ Lounge flows very well, and the story is quite effective, leaving viewers intrigued, engaged, and as eager as its protagonist to find the truth and answers to what is happening at the school.
Less productively, more trendily, Çatak’s film becomes a chain-reaction melodrama: acted by self-serious types, scored by tightly wound strings, dependent on characters saying the wrong things and leaving the right ones unsaid with jaws firmly, sardonically clenched.
An intense exploration of what it means to be a teacher in the 21st century, a professional who deals with students, parents, and colleagues simultaneously. An x-ray of the pedagogical work through a seemingly small problem that becomes a catastrophe with social, political, racial, and personal implications within a school institution. It also functions as a reflection of the large-scale tensions that affect society as a whole every day. Director İlker Çatak constructs a drama/thriller whose ambiguities speak volumes about the consequences of our actions, especially when we think we are doing the right thing. Despite the apparent low stakes, this film captures you from beginning to end with its mystery, the event's snowball effect, and outstanding performances.
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Por mais que não tenha a pegada realista de trabalhos como "Entre os muros da escola", não se pode negar que İlker Çatak fez um trabalho muito bom aqui. Talvez o único defeito seja nos personagens secundários mesmo, mas a composição da professora protagonista e dos seus alunos, cerne do filme, é primorosa.
Numa escola conservadora, temos a cena inicial já mostrando uma espécie de Inquisição sobre os alunos, com a direção insistindo para que eles dedurassem algum colega, tudo isso provocado por pequenos furtos que ocorrem naquele ambiente, os quais não são bem explicados, mas sim mais citados.
Leonie Benesch está estupenda como a professora protagonista da história, que resolve filmar por conta própria seu casaco pendurado na sua cadeira da sala dos professora, com uma armadilha meticulosamente brotada para pegar o responsável por aqueles pequenos furtos. Dito e certo: a câmera violadora da privacidade dos professores pega o responsável, mas não totalmente o rosto, tão somente a roupa, gerando interpretações dúbias e interessantes a respeito da autoria do crime.
Mas o filme não é apenas sobre uma investigação policial, e sim como as suposições afetam professores, alunos, direção, pais (a cena da reunião, excelente). É um microcosmo cuja teia vai sendo emaranhada de forma gradual e muito bem amarrada pelo roteiro, com grande destaque para o garoto Oskar (Leonard Stettnisch), o primeiro da turma e o que mais será impactado pelo drama.
Trata-se de um filme que tenta ir além da "cena-crime" para discutir aspectos psicológicos da projeção do outro num espaço onde claramente há margem para diversos papéis, como a liderança de uma turma de sexto ano, por exemplo. Absolutamente nenhuma cena é descartável, seja nas aulas ou na sala dos professores, ou no jornal da escola feito por alunos que conseguem inserir "racismo estrutural" no discurso da escola, tudo há um porquê de como vão lidando com as tensões.
E a real, é que a escola está completamente perdida e não sabe lidar com a situação. Oskar, o garoto mais afetado, tem uma postura tão centrada que é de dar dor ver ele sofrendo as consequências das relações sociais, pois não importa quão inteligente seja, a escola e todo o espaço pedagógico vai muito além das lições de matemática.
Mais um belo exemplar de filme sobre o mundo da educação, com destaque para o roteiro e para o ritmo do filme, mesmo que desbalanceado nos personagens, consegue transmitir muito bem a importância e o drama vivido pelos personagens principais. Ótimo representante no Oscar, ainda que não seja o favorito à estatueta.
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In recent years, we’ve all seen examples of incidents that start out comparatively small but that quickly get blown all out of proportion – and unreasonably so at that. As developments emerge and explode under these conditions, they often lose all sense of rationality and soon take on lives of their own, expanding into tangential and seemingly unrelated areas that have virtually nothing to do with the event that spawned them. And, in the end, we’re left with outcomes that seem inappropriate and ill-suited to what launched these insane scenarios in the fist place. That’s what writer-director Ilker Çatak explores in his latest offering, a dramatic satire about what unexpectedly grows out of a case of petty theft in the teachers’ lounge at a German middle school. Before long, the victim in this incident (Leonie Benesch) becomes swept up in a very public dust-up that leads to her becoming a very public pariah in the eyes of her peers, her students and their parents, while those in official capacities sit on the sidelines and do virtually nothing to address the issue. The situation thus serves as a microcosmic metaphor for what’s happening on a wider scale in society at large today, drawing in such ancillary elements as racial and national prejudice, the incendiary role of the media, the impact of unsubstantiated innuendo, the protection of personal privacy, the indulgence of contemporary youth, and the sway of fake news in shaping public opinion, a rather full plate of dubious and unsavory fallout stemming from comparatively meager beginnings. While some may contend that these outcomes are somewhat exaggerated in nature, they nevertheless collectively draw attention to undeniably troubling issues desperately in need of attention in our increasingly out-of-control world, global concerns that obviously transcend national borders, all punctuated here with more than a few hefty infusions of wickedly absurdist humor. “The Teachers’ Lounge” might not appeal to everyone, but, for those who enjoy films that aren’t afraid to present biting social commentary, this should be added to your watch list. As the picture so sadly shows, even supposedly civil environments aren’t immune from the kind of social nonsense depicted here, a troubling teaching for all of us who are looking for a return to sanity in an increasingly crazy existence.
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Nach fünf Minuten war mir das "gutten tag"-Lied, das auf die ebenso peinliche Parallele zwischen dem Klang des Orchesters und dem Beginn der Unterrichtsstunde folgt, sehr peinlich. Aber ich habe weitergeschaut, und ich muss sagen, dass ich dieses Überlegenheitssyndrom, das so eng mit der deutschen Kultur verbunden ist und das deutsche Filme im Allgemeinen zu vertreiben versuchen, schon lange nicht mehr in einem Film gesehen habe.
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Production Company
if... Productions,
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF),
ARTE
Release Date Dec 25, 2023
Duration 1 h 38 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
German Film Awards
• 5 Wins & 7 Nominations
Palm Springs International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
