The Class (PG-13) ***

By Connie Ogle, The Miami Herald

An uninformed filmgoer who stumbles onto Laurent Cantet's The Class would reasonably assume the film was a documentary detailing the difficulties of teaching culturally diverse teenagers in an urban Paris school.

But The Class, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, skillfully straddles an intriguing line between reality and fiction. Its script is based on a book by teacher Franc¸ois Bégaudeau, who also stars as a version of himself: a French instructor guiding a group of often unruly students through a school year.

If The Class had been made in the United States, the students would be impoverished, wayward thugs in desperate need of having their priorities rearranged by a caring and noble adult. There might be gunshots; at the least, fraught confrontations and, eventually, teary exhibitions of admiration and togetherness. But Cantet eschews the clichés of the American inspirational educational genre -- Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds, Lean on Me, Freedom Writers -- and shoots his film to create a unique experience with such utter realism that it makes those tired formulas seem even more staged and shopworn.

Part of the film's compelling success comes from the improvisational style Cantet employs, as well as the unaffected, natural performances of his young cast, which does not include a single professional actor. The students -- white, African, Asian, Arab -- are never caricatures. Each is a contradiction: sometimes thoughtful, sometimes rowdy; sometimes questioning, often boisterous and easily distracted.

The film behaves like a voyeur, eavesdropping on the daily rituals of class. M. Marin (Bégaudeau) tries to maintain order while encouraging the students' participation, a tricky struggle that constantly seesaws the class dynamic. These students aren't shy about confronting their teacher or showing off for each other, and the ensuing energetic debates are so realistic they can be exhausting.

And the likable M. Marin -- a patient teacher who seems genuinely to want his students to learn -- turns out to be as fallible as any teenager. One foolish exchange with a couple of girls sets off a confrontation with another student that shapes the film's one plot-driven dilemma: Should a troublesome student be suspended? An American film puts that subject center stage and amps up the drama. The Class, instead, deals with the conflict and moves on, well aware that school, like life, goes on.

Cast: Franc¸ois Bégaudeau, Nassim Amrabt, Laura Baquela.

Director: Laurent Cantet.

Screenwriters: Franc¸ois Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet. Based on the book by Franc¸ois Bégaudeau.

Producers: Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta.

A Sony Pictures Classics release. Running time: 128 minutes. Language. In French with English subtitles. In Miami-Dade: South Beach; in Palm Beach: Shadowood.

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