Movie Review: The Teachers’ Lounge

Although one may be tempted to classify The Teacher’s Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer) as a treatise on the social dynamics within the setting of a high school in Germany, there is far more at work here that is indicative of the Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film bestowed upon the work this year. It is, in short, one of the best films of the year.

The film begins with math teacher Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) calling her class of high school students to order using a series of brief calisthenic-like movements to start the day. Throughout the course of the day, Carla’s dedication to the profession becomes evident. But when a series of thefts is found to be plaguing the school, and one of her students is suspected of the crime, she attempts to investigate the pilfering herself. This leads her to heated confrontations with colleagues, parents, and students alike that call into question the current structure of the school system governing them all.

This collapse of the various social structures within the school following the crimes and subsequent accusations of culpability plays out somewhat akin to something like Lord of the Flies, showcasing the collapse of societal norms and proper behavior in the face of adversity. Throughout the proceedings, a tension is building that seems destined to lead to some sort of horrific ending for many of the characters and that is the brilliance of the film at work. The film ultimately plays more like a mystery/thriller than a treatise on the collapse of society.

Director Ilker Çatak, working from a script penned by himself and Johannes Duncker, creates one of the most stirring and provocative films in recent memory with The Teacher’s Lounge. There is hardly a moment – if any – of screen time wasted throughout the film. Every frame and shot serves a purpose. This is an artistic statement and one said loud and clear.

Leonie Benesch is enthralling as Nowak. She plays the character as someone trying to do the right thing, by any means necessary, even though that might not always be the correct way to go about it. Her performance carries the film and serves as a solid throughline from beginning to end. Even though the story ostensibly centers at times around other teachers and a few of the students in particular – such as Leonard Stettnisch’s portrayal of Oskar – it is Benesch that breathes life into all the film’s characters and their individual conflicts with her relationship to them.

Leonie Benesch in “The Teachers’ Lounge.” © Alamode Film

The tight setting of the school adds to the claustrophobic, pressure-cooker feel of the entire film, which is showcased by Judith Kaufmann’s cinematography that manages to give the school its own character of sorts and fuses with Gesa Jäger’s editing to, again, allow the film to play as a whodunit than social commentary.

The profound depth of the story and the sweeping breadth of the conflicts that befall the characters within the film transforms The Teacher’s Lounge into an enthralling examination of social dynamics that is easily one of the finest films of the year.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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