To Be and to Have (2002) on Netflix
NR20021h 44mDocumentaryFamily
One classroom in a rural French commune holds thirteen children, their ages running from four to twelve, and one teacher. The school year brings reading, dictation, sums and cooking.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.8/108,781 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
In the Puy-de-Dôme, the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson counts a little over two hundred residents, and its primary school holds one class of thirteen children whose ages run from about four to twelve. In that classroom the children read, take dictation, cook, and put things in order. With their teacher's help they work at sums and adjectives, and alongside the exercises they are learning to live side by side and to reckon with what their classmates want. Outside, the school year passes over mountains and farmland, from snow to rain to sun. At home the older ones do their homework with their parents after their chores. The title translates as the two auxiliary verbs of the French language.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about To Be and to Have (2002)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Mr Lopez, the teacher who was the documentary's principal figure, sued its makers for a share of the €2 million the film earned, claiming they had used his image without authorisation. French film unions warned that a win for him would have spelt the death of the documentary.
- Mr Lopez said that he, the children and their families had been misled by the production company, which told them it was making a small documentary about one-teacher village schools that would be used mainly for educational purposes.
- The court rejected Lopez's lawsuit, ruling that his attendance at the Cannes Film Festival with some of his pupils, and his repeated public statements of satisfaction at the film's success, amounted to his tacit acceptance of the use of his image.
- Mr Lopez said the unexpected attention the film brought his pupils traumatised some of them: one child began wetting the bed and became afraid of the dark, others were teased at their new secondary schools, and all suffered a great deal of stress as a direct consequence of the film.
