A few days before the Oscars ceremony, a film is released in theaters in France which has shaken up Germany and which is in the running in Hollywood for the statue of best foreign film, The teachers’ room by Ilker Çatak. The second film is called Siegfried’s notebooksin which the British director Terence Davies, who died last October, recounts the life of a British poet, Siegfried Sassoon.
“The Teachers’ Room” by Ilker Çatak
In theaters March 6, in the running for the Oscar for best foreign film
Not much is known regarding Carla Novak’s private life other than that she is from Poland and works at a German college. It is in the teachers’ room of this college that the plot unfolds.
While a series of thefts take place in the teachers’ lounge, Carla Novak leads the investigation in the college where she teaches. Very quickly, the entire establishment is shaken by his discoveries. After this series of thefts, in this room, Carla Novak, a young idealistic math teacher, leads the investigation to try to unmask the culprit. She is all the more motivated as a young boy of Turkish origin is unjustly accused and singled out in front of his entire class by other members of the teaching staff and what Carla discovers will shake the entire establishment…
“The Teachers’ Room” by İlker Çatak – ©Tandem Films / The Teachers’ Room
Critics’ opinion:
- Thierry Sit down was completely captivated by this story: “We have the impression that all social issues are included in this film, we talk regarding harassment, fake news, cancel culture, but here, there is first of all a film and a story” . What was he particularly excited regarding? “It’s a film that doesn’t come out of class, but until the end, it’s truly a thriller, until the end you don’t know how it’s going to end.”
- Charlotte Garson didn’t expect anything special: “Sometimes it’s a psychological thriller, sometimes we feel that it tells us something regarding this society.” She nevertheless emphasizes that the film “has quite a bit of brilliance”, but does not include the problems of the current school and presents a character “quite nunuche on arrival in his right-thinking side”.
“Siegfried’s Diaries” by Terence Davies
In theaters March 6, Best Screenplay Award at the 2021 San Sebastian International Film Festival
The Siegfried Diaries are those of the early 20th century British poet and writer Siegfried Sassoon. In 1914, barely 30 years old, he was drafted into the army during the First World War. He is particularly courageous in combat, but faced with the horrors of death, he becomes a conscientious objector. The soldier, decorated with the military cross and a future poet, therefore writes a letter to his superiors to inform them of his refusal to remain silent in the face of so many atrocities and so many deaths.
It is first of all the portrait of this period, notably archive images, and the poet’s words which are read. But it is also the portrait of this man, this poet, benched by his command, who has a series of romantic relationships, which turns into drama. This man who, through his peaceful pamphlets, will also receive a form of recognition and access to a worldly life where freedom is in reality not the priority.
This film is the last feature film by Terence Davies who died last October and was released in theaters five months following his death.
A retrospective is dedicated to the director: Terence Davies: time regained, at the Center Pompidou in Paris until March 17.
“Siegfried’s Diaries” by Terence Davies – ©2024, Condor Distribution
Critics’ opinion:
- Charlotte Garson found in this film, which she describes as a “biopic”, the singularity of Terence Davies: “We have the impression of an intimate archeology, as if cinema were only an art of memory. What I liked is that it resonates with a sense of death that Terrence has Davies and which he tells in a poetic and not sad way. She liked the strangeness produced by the film: “There is a sense of total immersion and at the same time something that can seem very calm and distant, I appreciate this disconcerting side.”
- Thierry Sit down did not know this poet and did not have the feeling of knowing him better when the film was released: “In this film, I have the impression that there is something devitalized, I have the impression that he has already spoken regarding everything that is in the film, but better”. The classicism of the film left it aside: “All along, I was waiting for something to happen and there was nothing spectacular, it created a distance for me.”
Sound clips:
- Extract of The Teachers’ Room de Ilker Çatak
- Extract of Siegfried’s Notebooks the Terence Davies