The Teachers' Lounge: Mean Modern Society Plays Out In Microcosm in German Oscar Contender
By Karen Gordon
Rating: A
A classroom in a quiet middle school is the setting for the taut, gripping drama, The Teachers’ Lounge. But the events in the film speak to much larger issues at a time in our world where situations can blow up quickly, and facts are on a sliding scale.
The film, co written and directed by Ilker Çatak is Germany’s submission to the Oscars in the Best International Film category and has been shortlisted, for good reason. Whether you take it at face value, or see larger meaning in it, this is a terrific movie.
The film centers on Carla Nowak (in a fantastic performance by Leonie Benesch). She's a Seventh Grade math and phys-ed teacher, new to her school. She’s a quiet woman, serious about her work, student focused and fair minded.
Leonie Benesh in The Teachers’ Lounge
The school she’s working has been grappling with some problems - notably a series of thefts, money stolen out of people’s pockets, wallets, etc. And the administration suspects that the thief is a student.
Two senior teachers have been investigating and believe the culprit is in her class.
When the film begins, she’s sitting in as two senior teachers are trying to get her class’s two representatives to point to any students they feel could be the guilty party. The students are reluctant and resentful. And Nowak respects the students’ rights to resist manipulation and pressure. Escalation results in at least one wrong loudly public accusation.
Then, in the teacher’s lounge, Nowak sees one of the teachers steal coins from the piggy bank used to pay for coffee via the honour-system.
So, she conducts a test. She puts her wallet in her jacket on the back of a chair in the teacher’s lounge, and leaves her computer slightly open with the camera running. When she returns, some of the money in her wallet is gone, and the camera has caught someone appearing to go into her jacket. Only a part of the shirt is visible, but it has a very specific and easily identifiable pattern.
That shirt belongs to the cheerful, efficient office staffer Mrs. Kuhn (Eva Löbau), whose son Oskar (Leo Stettnisch) is in Nowak’s class, a math whiz, and one of her favourite students. Nowak privately confronts her, asks for the money back and suggests that if the cash is returned, they can simply put the incident behind them.
Kuhn not only denies she did anything wrong, but her reaction is so charged and aggressive that Nowak is put off. She immediately shows the footage to the school principal Dr. Böhm (Anne-Kathrin Gummich) who calls Kuhn in and asks for an explanation.
Though the shirt she is wearing is visible on camera, Kuhn denies everything. The situation is now complicated by Nowak’s secret taping, which is a serious privacy issue.
Equilibrium is lost amid student defiance, swirling rumours, and the taking of sides in nasty ways.
German director Çatak and his co-writer Johannes Duncker have written an economical script that keeps us inside the school, and focused on Nowak as the walls feel like they're closing in, and as every day seems to bring a new layer of threat or complication.
Çatak does interesting things with The Teachers’ Lounge. He’s kept the movie small and down to earth. This isn’t a dystopian look at the future of humanity, but a story first about a school and a community, and how things can begin to spiral and give over to group-think.
A situation that is undefined and not complete is taken up as a cause without adequate facts. And a coalition of people who aren’t nearly as informed as they believe they are, feel empowered by their own conclusions and defiant when challenged. They become resolutely committed to what they think, without question.
The students insist their truth is what they believe and that’s all that matters. It’s a power position in a school where lines of respect and power go hand in hand. But in the process, they dehumanize Nowak.
The Teachers’ Lounge is focused on the small community that is the school. But as the film progresses a pack mentality emerges and it starts to feel uncomfortably like what we’ve seen with the rise of social media, cancel culture, and extreme political movements.
At the same time, Çatak doesn’t demonize anyone. Everyone in the movie has made mistakes. Nowak violated privacy. Dr. Böhm escalated rather than investigated. Kuhn lied and doubled down. The students are manipulated. There's power structures in the school system that have been there for a long time, and everyone it seems, pushes to express themselves within the structure, not noticing the effect on individuals.
The film, which is an economical 90 minutes, is a drama which, at times plays like a mystery, with incredible tension. Çatak gives us a satisfying film, but an unsettling one with unanswered questions.
The Teachers’ Lounge, directed by ìlker Çatak, starring Leonie Benesh, Anne-Kathrin Gummich. Leo Stettnisch, Eva Löbau. In theatres, Friday, January 19.