Monsieur Lazhar (2011) on Netflix
A Montréal elementary class loses its teacher to suicide. Bachir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant who claims he taught back home, offers to replace her and takes on the grieving children.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.5/1021,970 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
An elementary school teacher in Montréal, Martine Lachance, dies by suicide in her classroom. The class is left grieving, and grief counseling is arranged. Mme Vaillancourt, the principal, struggles to find a replacement, since the death was gruesome. She hires Bachir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant who says he taught in his home country. He takes charge of children of eleven and twelve, and both the culture gap and the school's rules make the work hard for him.
Cast
- Seddik Benslimaneas Abdelmalek
- Louis-David Leblancas Boris
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Playwright Évelyne de la Chenelière, author of the one-character play Bachir Lazhar, suggested Philippe Falardeau cast comedian Mohamed Fellag as the lead, and Falardeau worked out how to reach Fellag by researching the comedian's YouTube videos.
- Monsieur Lazhar and the Polish-Canadian co-production In Darkness were the first two films with Canadian connections to be finalists for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in the same year.
- Principal filming on Monsieur Lazhar was done in the summer so the production could use the school building and the child actors' own education would not be disrupted; four shooting days were in winter.
