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| Director İlker Çatak |
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| Çatak with lead actress Léonie Benesch |
THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE (Das Lehrerzimmer) B Germany (98 mi) 2023 d: İlker Çatak
What happens in the teacher’s lounge stays in the teacher’s lounge.
This film takes us back to Maren Ade’s THE FOREST THROUGH THE TREES (2003), another provocative German film that accentuates the psychological mistreatment and humiliation of a substitute teacher who becomes disturbingly isolated and withdrawn, where the performance by the socially awkward Eva Löbau is entirely believable, while also recalling other classroom dramas like Richard Brooks’ Blackboard Jungle (1955), Ryan Fleck’s Half-Nelson (2006), or Laurent Cantet’s The Class (Entre Les Murs) (2008), though this occasionally veers into the intensity of a thriller, where the eerie musical score by Marvin Miller plays havoc with our imagination. Written by Johannes Duncker and director İlker Çatak, as both attended the same school in Istanbul, the focus of the entire film is on the psychological pitfalls of an idealistic, well-meaning schoolteacher played by Léonie Benesch, so good as the schoolteacher’s virginal fiancé in Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (Das Weiße Band – Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte) (2009) before disappearing into television crime dramas for the past decade, coming into her own with this performance, where she is onscreen in nearly every shot, with the camera constantly following her face. Shot by Judith Kaufmann in a tight 4:3 format, with a strict composition of image and sound, the camera never leaves the school premises, creating a suffocating atmosphere from a claustrophobic world unto itself, where the protagonist seems firmly trapped in a network of door frames, corridors, and stairs, where there’s a distressing narrowing of space with no place to breathe, leading to insecure smiles and persistently nervous looks, discovering it’s increasingly difficult to follow her own moral compass. A raw and gritty docudrama, the film won 5 German Film Awards, including Best Film, Director, Actress, Screenplay, and Editing, while also making the final cut for the Academy’s Best International Feature. The film offers a critical eye on the thankless task of being a teacher, where expectations to mold the minds of the next generation are unrealistically high, with its own unique challenges, pressured by helicopter parents who make absurd demands and do not want the best for the class, but the best for their child, yet the dwindling allocation of resources can undermine that goal, leaving schools perpetually understaffed, raising questions of who is ultimately responsible. Schools tend to be tight-knit communities among themselves, like little fiefdoms with their own set of rules administered by a bureaucratic hierarchy that reflects the role of government in a larger society, becoming a microcosm for all the complexities of a modern democratic society, as Germany is reluctant to deal with its latent racism and xenophobia, where its problems are becoming practically irresolvable. Actress Eva Löbau returns here in a new iteration of her previous role, now seemingly older and wiser, playing a key role as an administrative secretary in this unfolding drama where seemingly minor things can spiral out of control really quickly, producing a snowball effect of misunderstandings. The two women are critically linked, initially viewed as allies on a common front, but a series of events quickly changes their positions, suddenly becoming adversaries in a precarious battle to alter or uncover the truth, becoming a fiery RASHOMON (1950) morality play of contrasting viewpoints. Çatak is the son of Turkish immigrants in Germany, having lived for part of his childhood with his family in Istanbul before studying film at the prestigious Dekra University of Media in Berlin. Racial themes play a part of his films, though typically on the peripheral, particularly the role of Turks, who happen to be the largest ethnic minority in Germany.
Europe seems to be replacing America in producing high quality indie movies that delve into troubling situations with cleverness and astuteness, where this explores the importance of optics and politics within a school institution, yet also feels provocatively engineered to confuse and frustrate viewers as much as possible. This unpretentious film holds a mirror to our own longstanding cultural divisions, where social tensions in Germany are explored through the prism of education, with a prevalence of bullying, prejudice, and self-righteousness, playing out in much the same way as events unfold in everyday life, where no one admits to their own misconduct, and people are quick to take sides and place blame, yet little is actually done to rectify the problems that occur, delivering a multi-level dynamic that is both metaphorical and engaging, taking a deep dive into double standards and political correctness, revealing the fragile state of any democracy. Carla Nowak (Léonie Benesch) is a new middle school math and physical education instructor, yet the ominous sounds that accompany her on her walk through the hallways is a reminder of what awaits her, as the customary ritual of classroom pleasantries quickly dissipates after we discover a series of petty thefts have been regularly occurring in the teacher’s lounge where students are not allowed, with the school imposing its “zero tolerance” policy, as school authorities enter her classroom, send the girls out into the hallways while the boys are instructed to empty their pockets, with suspicion falling on the shoulders of a young Turkish émigré, Ali (Can Rodenbostel), whose pleas of innocence are ignored. Yet when the parents are called in, the mother indicates she gave him some extra cash that morning to buy a video game. Carla objects to the stronghanded tactics used, offering support to the young student who she believes was wrongly suspected, creating unnecessary divisions not only in the classroom, but in the way the school conducts its own business. As a math teacher, she explains in one of her lessons, “The important thing to remember is that a proof needs a derivation that builds up step by step,” yet it soon becomes clear this is about more than just a math task. Attempting to get to the heart of the matter, she devises her own strategy, leaving her coat unattended in the teacher’s lounge during a classroom, while allowing her laptop computer to film the pilfering of her pocketbook. What she sees is only the arm of the suspected culprit reaching into her pocket, where the clothing caught on camera matches the blouse of the school secretary, Ms. Kuhn (Eva Löbau). Confronted with the allegations, Ms. Kuhn grows highly indignant, vigorously refuting any suggestions of theft while asserting she has been unfairly targeted, and instead turns the tables on Carla, believing her privacy has been invaded by a spying device making an illegal secret recording, a violation of school policy that particularly upsets the other teachers, suggesting Ms. Nowak is not to be trusted. This quickly escalates into an overblown drama, with the school making matters worse by suspending Ms. Kuhn until an investigation can be completed, creating tension and hostilities in the ranks, with some believing the police should be called. An embarrassed Carla is at the center of it all, thinking she was handling it quietly and discreetly, but what she’s really done is stir a hornet’s nest, with credibility undermined, rumors flying, and outraged students wanting answers, while a meeting with parents quickly escalates into a witch trial, yet no one can speak about the incident due to an ongoing investigation, leaving the school stuck in limbo, paralyzed by scandal and unending turmoil.
What Çatak has created is an unsettling psychological portrait of well-intentioned plans going awry, with the story shifting into disturbing territory when it is revealed one of Carla’s most formidable students, Oskar (Leo Stettnisch, exhibiting a remarkable capacity to internalize a complex role), is the son of Ms. Kuhn. Bright and attentive, a socially awkward loner who has math skills far superior to anyone else in the classroom, he is outraged at the accusations against his mother, defiantly standing up for her, claiming she is not a thief, demonstrating his dissatisfaction by his unruly behavior in the classroom, becoming a constant disruptive presence, aligning his fellow students against the authority of the teacher in an act of rebellion, leaving her trapped and ostracized. Adding to the mix is the school newspaper, whose editorial stance is “Truth overcomes all bonds. Everything else is just PR,” as young budding journalists attempt to unravel the truth by speaking to all parties involved, unleashing a controversial exposé that only fans the flames of discord, leaving Carla devastated by the unflattering look, while teachers are also portrayed in a hypocritical light. The school responds by ignominiously censoring the publication, rounding up all the existing copies in a blatant attempt to cover up the truth, which only exacerbates the situation. While there are many forces in play, Çatak has superbly constructed a choreography of shifting emotions that resembles a rollercoaster ride through hostile territory, seen entirely through the eyes of Ms. Nowak, who is something of an unreliable narrator, losing her own sense of identity, veering into surreal hallucinations at one point, continually leaving viewers off balance, as there are simply no easy answers provided. Perhaps the biggest offender is the administrative hysteria coming from school principal Dr. Böhm (Anne-Kathrin Gummich), who prides herself in implementing a zero-tolerance policy, yet that means literally no one is treated fairly, as it leads to denunciation, suspicion, and exclusion rather than creating a safe space, condemning one and all with the mere mention of rumors or accusations, mistaking conformity for justice, believing this get tough policy plays well with the parents and society at large, suggesting society needs a scapegoat to blame in order to function, yet the dysfunctional effect it has on everyone involved is disastrous, as no one is left unscathed. The film is a train wreck of misguided policies, where there is never any hint of finding the truth, which becomes something to fear, suppressed at every opportunity, leaving students, teachers, and parents alike caught in a trap of confusion, mostly befuddled by how facts are intentionally misconstrued or ignored altogether, where viewers are left to decipher what they can from the clues presented and draw their own conclusions. It’s interesting that moral values are the hallmarks of a democratic society, always listed among its strongest virtues, yet when trouble hits home, those values are quickly thrown out the window in acts of self-preservation, which have the effect of sabotaging the truth, or muddling the playing field, creating a cloud of confusion that leaves no one knowing for sure just what happened. The finale is its own just reward, beautifully presented, as if in a dream, prefaced by the music of Mendelssohn, Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 21, MWV P3 YouTube (12:00), where Çatak has presented a what-if scenario in a paranoid, overly suspicious society where no good deed goes unpunished, yet everyone thinks they’re doing the right thing. A reflection of the dangerously unstable world we live in, the film suggests it’s not too late to change the path we’re on.
