Entre Les Murs Analysis

Overview The Class, or by the original title Entre les murs, is an autobiographical film about former French language and literature teacher Francois Begaudeau. Begaudeau plays himself in the film as Mr. Marin, who teaches at an ethnically mixed high school in the inner city of Paris, France. Mr. Marin teaches a group of 14 and 15-year-old students, who are smart but very argumentative and confrontational. Mr. Marin spends a lot of class time disciplining, and battling the students about different topics. One violent situation in class led to expulsion for one of his problematic students, against Mr. Marin wishes. In general, the film highlights some of the challenges teachers face in teaching students at inner city schools (Cantet 2008 and

The students in the film are culturally different, and have various views, opinions, beliefs and needs. Their culture, and home life affect their behavior and attitudes in and out of class. This is true for most students, especially in inner city schools when everyone is diverse, and end up together in one class. In one scene, Rhoumba and Esmeralda did not like that Mr. Marin used “whitey” names such as Bill in his examples. They wanted to hear names that were culturally familiar. This example can teach teachers the importance of making sure their students’ culture is represented somehow in the class. Something as simple as using a specific name in the examples is important to students who are often left out of the curriculum. Another example is when the students expressed what they were ashamed of, and many students said they were ashamed of their culture differences. This is a learning moment for teachers because cultural differences could affect how their students see themselves, and that celebrating and including their culture in the classroom could have an effect on their attitudes and self-esteem. Overall, teachers can learn how important it is for students to feel represented in the class, and that culture plays a big part in student’s