Must-Watch! New Documentary on a Children’s Class Will Move You Deeply!

What’s It About?

LEARN, raise your hand, avoid mistakes. Hoping for the teacher to say: “well done!” Mastering reading, writing, and arithmetic isn’t always easy…

TEACHING kids, spotting the confusion in their eyes, encouraging them, assisting them. Getting them to read, to sing…

LEARNING to communicate in the playground rather than fighting.

LEARNING takes place in an elementary school in the Republic, in a suburb of Paris.

With directors like Nicolas Philibert (creator of “To Be and To Have” in 2002), Sébastien Lifshitz (“Teens” in 2020), and the iconic Raymond Depardon, Claire Simon stands among the French filmmakers who excel in the art of the documentary. This art captures emotions and life moments, expressions like few can.

Like Nicolas Philibert, Claire Simon has filmed childhood, and her new film, “Learn,” builds bridges with the successful documentary “To Be and To Have.” Both showcase the empathy of the teaching world, the patience and knowledge required by the profession, and especially the spontaneity of children through numerous touching and striking sequences.

Claire Simon had previously filmed childhood in the documentary “Recess,” with the approach of only shooting in a schoolyard.

In “Learn,” Claire Simon’s extensive engagement in this Ivry-sur-Seine school and her meticulous editing work present a new, rich, and educational film about young children. “I realized that the classroom, the lessons, could be filmed, which I wasn’t necessarily convinced of before: there are emotions, stories, stakes, drama. In short, cinema.

I also noticed that all children want to do well, to succeed. And of course, the demands that emerge from teaching, and the determination to not leave anyone behind,” Claire Simon explains in the film’s press kit.

The film also reflects on the importance of school as a place: “I wanted to show the elementary school as a republican bastion, as a factory of citizens and the city. The elementary school is a place of learning – reading, writing, and arithmetic – but also a place where we confront the adult world. It’s the opposite of the traditional, idyllic image of the elementary school, which transmits more traditional values.”

Capturing Reading and Singing

“Learn” features various episodes from class life, including routine events that punctuate everyday life. “I (…) discovered the quarter-hour reading time and it moved me: filming children reading, I found it very beautiful: their concentration, lips moving, eyes following the lines… Teacher Mohammed told me that for some, it’s their only reading time.” Two singing sequences are also likely to move you, including one with a famous song by Rihanna!

The film aims to capture the perspective of a child, thus exuding a certain empathy, and it is likely to evoke childhood memories. “The key to being at a child’s level is to reconnect with one’s own childhood. And I found memories of myself as a schoolgirl, which I really enjoyed being in my village in Var.”

“Learn” hits theaters this Wednesday, January 29, 2025.