Stream It Or Skip It: ‘School Life’ on Netflix, a French Drama in Which Overworked Teachers Wrangly Rowdy Students

Netflix movie School Life (or La vie scolaire) is the latest in a long line of films about troubled youth and their inspired and inspiring teachers, dating at least back to 1955’s Blackboard Jungle. This French drama makes no bones about sharing its influences (hint: a reimagination of a very popular song originally by Coolio tracks the end credits), but does it at least bring something new to a familiar subgenre?

SCHOOL LIFE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Samia Zibra (Zita Hanrot) is the new vice principal at a school in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis. The students are largely from immigrant families in crime-ridden neighborhoods, and the movie focuses on those who have yet to choose an elective study — which is a nice way of saying they’re quick to snap back at teachers, not interested in working hard and generally aimless for this reason, that reason, many reasons. To say they’re disruptive to even the slightest attempt to direct a simple lesson is to say that water is a thing that’s wet.

The movie is chock full of these disruptions, but Samia steps into the job and immediately understands the way the current flows. She’s good. She’s also the voice of reason when her administrative co-workers, including her officemates Dylan (Alban Ivanov) and Moussa (Moussa Mansaly), tend toward being too light, too jokey. They and other staff have a Simpsons challenge every year, where the one who makes a student write the most ridiculous sentences as punishment — a la Bart on the chalkboard — and she bears an expression of uncertainty whether this informal competition should be pooh-poohed as too cynical or if it salvages their sanity while performing a difficult, frequently thankless job. She also must manage teachers, who range from a goofy, cussing gym teacher who has the kids play soccer on rollerblades to the rigid, frustrated Thierry (Antoine Reinartz) to Messaoud (Soufiane Guerrab), who seems to perfectly project kindness and authority.

The film offers an array of students played mostly by non-actors. Fode (Mahamadou Sangare) is a compulsive liar, Lamine (Ibrahim “Facher” Drame) is caught stealing food from the lunch line, Kevin (Gaspard Gevin-Hie) is an incurable clown, Issa (Moryfere Camara) adds to unruly moments but soon shows signs of life in math class. Whoever sits across from Samia’s desk gets her sincere concern and effort, and a firm-but-not-too-firm dose of truth — but her greatest project is Yanis (Liam Pierron), who’s 15, lazy and far too intelligent and measured in his garrulous backtalk to be dismissed merely as trouble. She sees him after hours at the nearby prison, where he visits her father, and she secretly visits her boyfriend; Samia knows she can trust him, and we do too.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: OK, I’ll just say it: Dangerous Minds is the easiest go-to reference, but the movie flows with the similar controlled looseness — for lack of a better term — of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused.

Performance Worth Watching: Pierron is extraordinary as Yanis, a character who steadfastly refuses to be pigeonholed. His exchanges with Hanrot — whose warmth and presence seems effortless — are the film’s strongest, most thematically rich moments.

Memorable Dialogue: Yanis breaks hearts when he matter-of-factly wonders out loud to Samia, “What if I’m not worth more?”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: As someone who believes being interrupted is deeply disrespectful, School Life was a 111-minute anxiety attack. The meat of the film consists of scenes in which pre-teens and teens ranging from slightly to mostly rowdy are absolutely themselves at all times, derailing educators’ every attempt at direction, piling tangents upon tangents, nesting disruptions within disruptions within disruptions. But directors Mehdi Idir and Grand Corps Malade find truth within those jazzlike, anti-harmonic rhythms.

Such is the challenge of characters like Samia and Messaoud — to navigate the chaos and funnel it in the general direction of progress, no matter how miniscule it may be at times. We empathize, and are glad we aren’t them (or maybe you’re one of those maniacs who craves the challenge). This isn’t exactly a groundbreaking film; much of it rings familiar, albeit subtler than most of its ilk. But it’s sturdy on all fronts, its cast terrific and inspired, earning our emotional engagement and concern even when it lacks a little dramatic oomph.

Our Call: STREAM IT. School Life stands, and mostly delivers.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream School Life on Netflix