The film that made a celebrity of a French primary school teacher!
Inspired by the French phenomenon of "single-class" schools, To be and to have charts the life of a small one-class village school over the course of one academic year, and takes a warm and serene look at primary education in the French heartlands.
A dozen youngsters, aged 4-10, are brought together in one classroom and taught every subject by one single teacher of extraordinary dedication.
A master in quiet authority, schoolteacher Georges Lopez patiently navigates the children towards adolescence, cooling down their arguments and listening to their problems.
Special Agent Matti
To be and to have is a sweet little documentary about a nice man who has the gift of teaching.
My only questions are these:G
105 minutes (1:45 hours)
Film: 6 May 2004 - Melbourne, Sydney
There are still, almost everywhere in France, single-classroom schools that bring together, under the same schoolteacher, all the children from the same village, from nursery age to their last year of primary education.
Whether their individual members are withdrawn or outgoing, these assorted little groups share everyday life, for the best and for the worst.
It was in one of these schools, somewhere in the heart of the Auvergne, that my film was shot.
Nicholas Philibert