The Teachers’ Lounge – Review
Man, I love European drama. They, like their European Horror counterparts, often carry a flavor very different from American dramas. The Teachers’ Lounge, though, manages to carry this feat off while remaining absolutely identifiable and relatable to American audiences.
98 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written by Johannes Duncker and Ilker Catak
Directed by Ilker Catak
Synopsis:
When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her.
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
**WARNING: this film is sub-titled. Don’t say you weren’t warned.**
The Teachers’ Lounge begins where all good school dramas begin: with the faculty trying to figure out who is committing what we are told is a rash of small thefts around the school, up to and including a BOX of pencils. A thousand pencils. Who, as one teacher asks, needs a a thousand pencils?
As the teachers ply two student leaders for their thoughts on their fellow students, who they have apparently been investigating for the faculty, we see glimpses of one of the great themes of the film: fear of the unknown or different.
As one teacher plays the old cop game of “you don’t have to say anything, just blink as I run my pen down this list of students for anyone you have doubts about,” the discomfort is palpable. These kids know this is wrong, but they’re just students up against the adults.
The stage is slowly being set for what comes later…
As the faculty narrow their search to the classroom of Ms. Carla Nowak, where wallets are searched (this time it’s actual MONEY which has gone missing) because “if you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about,” and a student not of the local ethnicity is pulled aside for having too much money in their wallet.
Yeah…
His mother is called in and says she gave him money to buy a birthday present for a friend, and so the faculty apologizes (badly, while completely justifying their behavior) and releases the student. But the damage is done. Trust is fraying.
When Carla witnesses a faculty member steal money from the coffee fund piggy bank, she decides to lay a trap. Putting money in her wallet (after counting it, of course), she places her laptop in a position to record her jacket to see if anyone commits the crime.
It does, and it is here that all hell breaks loose.
Well, all hell saunters out of the bullpen and warms up, anyway.
Once word that a video exists and the culprit is suspended pending an investigation, the slow (well, continuing) decline of moral rectitude accelerates, as a one-off bit of evidence opens the wells of gossip and petty behaviors among the faculty. All this while the students witness the behaviors, hear the gossip, and correlate it with their own treatment.
A plan is hatched.
The Teachers’ Lounge makes loud points about education and educators, cultures, trust, and basic human behaviors, all within a pretty quietly told story with sympathetic characters for us to identify with, along with some unsympathetic characters whose motivations and behaviors we might see within ourselves at various points.
Beautifully acted (Leonie Benesch shines as Carla Nowak, a Polish teacher in this German school) and effectively shot, the various student roles are also compellingly presented, especially Oskar, a gifted student caught in a situation he can’t understand, and the student reporters who take it upon themselves to look into, and present, what they perceive as a gross injustice, and even corruption, on the part of the school administration.
And poor Ms. Nowak is caught in the middle, trying to balance the needs of her students with the responsibilities of being on the faculty (as a substitute, no less).
It’s a great film.
The Teachers’ Lounge was originally released on December 25, 2023 (to make it awards eligible), but will open wide at some point (TBD, but soon(?), so hit up your local art-houses…) and stars Leonie Benesch, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, Rafaeil Stachowiak, Michael Klammer, Eva Lobau, and Leonard Stettnisch.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
Please don’t forget to LIKE this post, SHARE it with your friends, and FOLLOW us on X (TWITTER), FACEBOOK, THREADS, INSTAGRAM, and SUBSCRIBE to our YOUTUBE channel, as well.
And please, if you like what we do, consider helping us keep on entertaining you. You can use this handy link:
Or, you could check out the merch in Our Store:
Not only will you be helping us out if you pick up some merch, you get cool stuff to wear around (including the coveted WTFWT? logo!)