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Entre les Murs(The Class)Written byLaurent Cantet, Robin Campillo and François BégaudeauBased on the novel"Entre les murs" by François Bégaudeaupublished by Verticales, 2006Directed par Laurent CantetDeveloped with the backing ofthe Centre National de la Cinématographie,the Procirepand the European Union's Media Programme

INT. CAFÉ - DAYThe first morning of the new school year.In a Paris café, leaning on the bar, FRANÇOIS, 35 or so,peacefully sips coffee. In the background, we can vaguelymake out a conversation about the results of thepresidential election. François looks at his watch andseems to take a deep breath as if stepping onto a stage.EXT. STREET - DAYFrançois comes out of the café. Across the street, wediscover a large building whose slightly outdated façadeis not particularly welcoming. He walks over to theimposing entrance that bears the shield of the City ofParis in wrought iron and beneath which we read “JAURESMIDDLE SCHOOL”. On the opposite sidewalk, coming from theother end of the street, a small group of teachershurries towards the entrance. François hears them joking.VINCENTHe’s a really great guy, not the backslapping type but François greets them in passing.INT. CORRIDORS - SCHOOL - DAYWe discover the school’s deserted corridors. Through thedoorway of a classroom, François sees a few cleaners who,in a very calm atmosphere, clean the tables and line themup neatly, wash the windows A short distance further on,a man in overalls applies one last coat of paint to anadministrative notice board.INT. MEETING ROOM - DAYAround the principal in the meeting room, the teachers,old or new, introduce themselves briefly, as in a castingsession.HERVÉHello, everybody, I'm Hervé. I’ve been atthe school three years now. I teachsports. I’d like to welcome all our newcolleagues. The students can be tough butthey're good kids. There you go.

2.OLIVIERHello, everybody, I'm Olivier. I teachphysical science and I've been here for 4years.PATRICKI'm Patrick and I teach multiplicationtables, and occasionally mathematics!I've been at this school for a number ofyears.ANNEHello, I'm Anne. I used to work in theLyon suburbs, in Bron to be precise, andI teach English. I'm looking for my newcolleagues. Hello ISABELLEHello, I’m Isabelle ANNEPleased to meet you. Hello CHRISTIANEI’m Christiane FRÉDÉRICI'm Frédéric, I teach history andgeography and I used to work out in thesuburbs of Paris, in Aulnay-sous-Bois ifanyone knows it. I'm happy to be in thecity now.JULIEHello, I'm Julie, the year supervisor.I'd like to welcome you all and wish youa good year.ALINEHello, I'm Aline, I'm the cook and I'dlike to welcome you all.VINCENTThank you, Aline.GILLESHello, everyone. I'm Gilles, I've beenteaching mathematics for many years now.I'm retiring at the end of this year. I'dlike to wish the new arrivals plenty ofcourage.

3.FRANÇOISI'm François. I teach French and I'mstarting my fourth year here. Welcome,everybody.Then the principal hands out the timetables, eliciting afew sighs of satisfaction or disappointment.INT. STAFF ROOM - DAYIn the staff room, a new arrival listens to the succinctcomments of an older member of staff, OLIVIER, on thedifferent students in a second-year class as he runsthrough a list.OLIVIERNice, nice, not nice, not nice at all He's nice, not nice, watch him, not niceat all, nice, not nice, she's not nice atall.INT. CLASS - DAYThe children noisily enter the glass as François lookson. The students take their places in general confusion,the girls on one side, the boys on the other. They showeach other their new gear: pencil cases, brand-nameexercise books François, clearly used to this kind ofagitation, raises his voice.FRANÇOISAll right, all right, all right! Hey,hey, hey! Calm down now! Stop stirringthings up there and remove your hood,please. You two back there, there's aplace here. One of you comes up front.Things start to calm down.FRANÇOISRight, let's get one thing clear from theword go Hey! I want to get this clearfrom the start. We waste five minuteslining up outside, five coming up, fivesettling down: fifteen minutes out of anhour. Do you realize what fifteen lostminutes means? With twenty-five hours aweek and thirty weeks in the year, welose thousands of minutes. In otherschools, they do a full hour. Imagine howfar ahead they get in a year. Figure itout!

4.KHOUMBA, a girl with long hair in the style of DianaRoss, speaks up without raising her hand first.KHOUMBAWe never do an hour!FRANÇOISPut your hand up to speak. What is it?KHOUMBAWe never do an hour. You always say that.FRANÇOISWhat do you mean, “we never do an hour”?KHOUMBATeachers say we do an hour's class but wenever do.Yes.FRANÇOISKHOUMBAWe never do an hour's class. We start at8.30 and finish at 9.25. That doesn'tmake an hour.FRANÇOISAll right, it's fifty-five minutes.Thanks, that's an important point.KHOUMBABut we never do an hour. Stop sayingother schools do an hour. They don'teither.FRANÇOISAll right, all I'm saying is that wewaste time. Like right now. To startwith, take out a sheet of paper, fold itin two so that it can stand on the edgeof your desk clearly and, using blockcapitals, write your full name on it.While BOUBACAR sluggishly obeys, WEY, in the front row,translates the instructions into Chinese for his neighborand shows her how to do it. A few rows behind them,ESMERALDA, Khoumba’s friend and neighbor, butts in.ESMERALDAWhy do we have to write our names?FRANÇOISSo I can get to know who you are.

5.ESMERALDABut you know us!LOUISEWe had you last year.FRANÇOISEsmeralda, I don't know if you'venoticed, but half of the kids here arenew. So it can help. Be happy. This way,people will know your name.ESMERALDAI'm not doing it.Cut it out.FRANÇOISESMERALDAI won't if you don't.FRANÇOISAh, you have a point. For those of youwho don't know me, I'm Mr. Marin.Ms. Marin.ESMERALDABOUBACARHey, are you a marine?SOULEYMANEHe wiped you out, that’s wicked.Very funny.FRANÇOISBOUBACARHe didn’t wipe you out, he busted you.FRANÇOISCome on, it shouldn't take so long. Youshould be a lot quicker. Five minutes towrite a name. That's ridiculous!INT. STAFF ROOM - DAYSOPHIE, in passing, offers a biscuit to RACHEL andFrançois who is sitting nearby.SOPHIEA biscuit for the first day?

6.FRANÇOISI'm okay, thanks.ANNEI wouldn’t mind one.SOPHIERachel, a biscuit will buck you up.Thanks.RACHELINT. CLASS - DAYOn the board, François writes the words that the studentshaven’t understood in the text that they are studying. Aslightly affected student raises his hand.FRANÇOISAll right "Witty". That's a word we'lltry to explain later. Are there any otherwords in the text that you don'tunderstand? Burak.BURAKThe word "condescension".François notes the word on the board, just under othermore or less complicated words. He turns to the class.FRANÇOISThe word "condescension", yes, that's acomplicated word. Do you have any idea,Burak, what that might mean? Any idea atall?BURAKA vague idea but I'm not sure.FRANÇOISYou're not sure? All right, we'll talkabout that later then. Yes, Damien?"Argentite".DAMIENFRANÇOISArgentite. What does that mean?DAMIENIt's people who live in Argentina.

7.FRANÇOISRight, exactly, the inhabitants ofArgentina.ESMERALDAWow, what a moron! Wicked!FRANÇOISArgentites and Argentitesses No, ofcourse not. Damien, who lives inArgentina?DAMIENThe Argentites.FRANÇOISNo, you know that's not right, you watchsoccer on TV. Argentina's players arecalled Footballers.DAMIENSOULEYMANEOh, what a big kid!A discreet-looking student raises her hand.FRANÇOISLet's move on. Any other difficult wordsin this text? Henriette? Is thereanything that you didn't understand? Iimagine there . Thanks for the prompt,Samantha. All right! I think that willdo. Let's take a look at these words. Allright. "Austrian" Wey was the one whopicked the word "Austrian". Yes,Esmeralda.ESMERALDAI mean, we all know what "Austrian" is.People from Austria.FRANÇOISOkay, but Wey doesn't know and, well,Austrian isn't really

8.ESMERALDAMaybe, but he's the only one, everyoneelse knows!FRANÇOISOkay, we get the message. You didn't know"misleading", so you're not really in anyposition to talk about all that. We agreeon that?ESMERALDAYes, but everyone knows what "Austrian"means! It's easy.FRANÇOISLook here, nobody's perfect. Besides,"Austrian" is not a very important word.It refers to someone from the land ofAustria, which is a pretty tiny country.We can live without the word. Forexample, can anyone name a famousAustrian?Not one hand is raised.BOUBACARMozart. “Wolfang” Amadeus Mozart.FRANÇOISWhat do you call him?BOUBACAR“Wolfang” Amadeus Mozart.FRANÇOISHe could have been "Wolfang" maybe if hewere English, not Austrian. Mozart wasAustrian, yes, but do you know any otherfamous Austrians? So, basically, Austriacould vanish from the map and no onewould notice. But, seriously, it's acountry south of Germany. So check a map,Wey. You'll see where it is. Souleymane,can you note the words too, like everyoneelse?François’ blatant insincerity inspires a few collusivesmiles in the class. Wey is delighted to have understoodthat his teacher is joking.SOULEYMANEI forgot my things.

9.FRANÇOISAnd no one can lend you some paper so youcan do it?SOULEYMANENo, it’s okay, I'll do it at home.FRANÇOISYou'll do it at home. Sure you will.That's your approach. Not a stroke ofwork in class and everything done athome.SOULEYMANEI'm serious. Don’t worry, it’ll be okay,it’ll be okay Thanks.Souleymane, convinced that he has had the last word,seems fairly pleased with himself. François turns to thelist of words on the board again.FRANÇOISAll right, let's move on to "succulent"."Succulent" is a word that we'll try toguess the meaning of. What's in"succulent"? Suck Suck off!Jerk.BOUBACARESMERALDAFRANÇOISVery funny, Boubacar. Very witty indeed.SOULEYMANEHe should be sent out for that, sir.FRANÇOISI'll give you a sentence with"succulent". Bill enjoys a succulentcheeseburger.On either side of the word on the board, he writes asentence: “Bill enjoys a succulent cheeseburger.” And heunderlines the word “succulent”. A voice speaks outbehind him.CHERIFCheeseburgers are crap, they stink.FRANÇOISWho said that?

10.RABAHCheeseburgers are the best.CHERIFI said it. Why a cheeseburger?FRANÇOISWell, since you say they stink, thatmeans you think cheeseburgers aren'tsucculent.CHERIFI don’t care, but cheeseburgers are crap.FRANÇOISAll right, but what I mean is, what Ijust said about cheeseburgers should havemade the penny drop.Those who know become more and more impatient.ANGELICASir, sir, what does that mean?FRANÇOISWhat does what mean?ANGELICAThe penny thing FRANÇOIS"To make the penny drop." That shouldmake the penny drop. No one knows theexpression?A clue.STUDENT (O.S.)FRANÇOISThat's it. If the penny drops, it meansyou're given a clue. When I say if Cherifthinks cheeseburgers stink, it means hedoesn't think they're succulent, thatshould help you see what "succulent"means.KHOUMBAWhat's with the Bills?What bills?FRANÇOISKHOUMBANot bills, the name Bill.

11.ESMERALDABill and Ben.KHOUMBAYou always use weird names. Why don’t youuse FRANÇOISIt's not a weird name. A recent USPresident was called Bill, remember.KHOUMBAWhy don't you use Aïssata or Rachid orAhmed or ESMERALDAYou always use whitey names. It’s wicked.What names?Honky names.FRANÇOISESMERALDAFRANÇOISWhat's a honky?ESMERALDAHonkies, Frenchies, frogs.François seems a little put out, as if he had been tryingto avoid this kind of discussion.FRANÇOISYou're not French, Esmeralda?ESMERALDANo, I'm not French.FRANÇOISReally? I didn't know.ESMERALDAWell, I am French, but I’m not proud ofit.FRANÇOISFine, I'm not either, actually.ESMERALDAWiped him out!