Monsieur Lazhar
Music Box Films | Release Date: April 13, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 3, 2012
Monsieur Lazhar resembles a clear, clean glass of water: transparent, utterly devoid of gratuitous flavorings or frou-frou, and all the more bracing and essential for it. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 2, 2012
Monsieur Lazhar becomes a deeply affecting film not for pathos but for the way sadness is conveyed so subtly. It's a small triumph of restrained compassion, coaxing throat lumps rather than jerking tears. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie PunterApr 9, 2012
It's an exquisite, humanistic and subtly topical work of cinema art that manages to keep the intimate, revelatory sensibility of a one-man play intact while fleshing out the characters and creating a very realistic and richly detailed school community. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubJohn SemleyApr 12, 2012
More than a class full of convincing child actors and a genuinely affecting performance by Fellag, Falardeau offers a film as believably wrenching, and finally cathartic, as the grieving process itself. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 24, 2012
The catharsis found here is far quieter, and much more effective, whether it be the pain expressed in a student's essay or the honesty found in a simple gesture, one that ends the film in beautifully moving fashion. Read full review
90
NPRBob MondelloApr 16, 2012
Fellag, a comedian and himself an exile from Algeria, makes Lazhar both a sensitive and an amusing figure. And the kids are just terrific, especially Emilien Neron as a boy who carries the guilt of the whole school on his shoulders. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenApr 12, 2012
Like no other film about middle school life that I can recall Monsieur Lazhar conveys the intensity and the fragility of these classroom bonds and the mutual trust they require. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternApr 12, 2012
What makes the film enthralling is the wisdom and grace with which it addresses the twin subjects of grief and healing, and the quiet beauty of Mohamed Fellag's performance in the title role. Read full review
90
Village VoiceMichelle OrangeApr 10, 2012
Nélisse, with her tough, Courtney Love puss, and Néron's portrayal of a boy's well-defended torment are extraordinary, as is the film's realization of the small, temporary world that surrounds them. Hitting upon that kind of specificity - of a moment and its emotion - makes for strong memories and a really great movie. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 1, 2012
Until a devastatingly effective finale, Monsieur Lazhar is an exercise in delicacy, carried by Fallag's gentle performance and a fine cast of kid actors. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertApr 25, 2012
One of the qualities of Monsieur Lazhar is that it has no simple questions and simple answers. Its purpose is to present us with a situation, explore the people involved and show us a man who is dealing with his own deep hurts. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 19, 2012
There's a quiet metaphor here: How do you teach children without touching them - their minds, their souls, their sensitivities? Read full review
88
New York PostKyle SmithApr 13, 2012
Like a dedicated teacher, this is a film that stays with you. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezApr 12, 2012
Monsieur Lazhar doesn't send you home depressed. Instead, the film leaves you hopeful, and even exhilarated, that even the most painful wounds can sometimes heal. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJun 7, 2012
Discreet, delicate, and cautious, Monsieur Lazhar takes you by surprise -- and that goes for both the movie and the man. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerApr 13, 2012
There are wonderful sequences strewn throughout, like the moment when Lazhar, at a school dance, begins to slowly sway to the music as if in a trance. Read full review
80
Total FilmSimon KinnearMay 7, 2012
The result is a shrewd look at classroom etiquette and an achingly sad study of grief-stricken solitude, built on ace performances by Fellag and the kids-especially 11-year-old scene stealer Sophie Nélisse. Read full review
80
EmpirePatrick PetersApr 30, 2012
An Oscar nominee at this year's Academy Awards and for good reason, Falardeau's film is moving, smart and sensitive. Terrific stuff, in short. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesApr 26, 2012
Into this cauldron walks the title character, a gentle Algerian refugee with his own history of terrible loss, and as he tries to take over the dead woman's class, his rocky relationship with the kids pushes both him and them to new levels of empathy, understanding, and forgiveness. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensApr 14, 2012
Though its story may sound formulaic on paper, please take my word for it: Monsieur Lazhar, written and directed by Philippe Falardeau, is a sharply intelligent, deeply sad, and not remotely sappy film about both teaching and collective grief. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranApr 13, 2012
Artfully put together by writer-director Falardeau, Monsieur Lazhar shows us life in the round, illustrating the way humor, compassion and tragedy can all be elements of experience. Its emotional honesty is heartening, a lesson we are never too old to learn. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierApr 12, 2012
Falarde, in adapting a play, has a sweet, humanistic approach reminiscent of Bill Forsyth's '80s dramedies that lets "Lazhar's" protagonist and his class shine. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondApr 11, 2012
The kids, especially Néron and Nélisse are irresistible and supporting players are well-cast. Human dramas like Monsieur Lazhar are a rare breed these days and this exceptional example is one to be cherished. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMay 2, 2012
Still, for a film that is so much about the healing power of words expressed and feeling brought into the light of day, Monsieur is strangely reticent. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 26, 2012
Whatever the film's limitations, it's certainly engaging to watch. As is Mohamed Fellag, as Lazhar. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoApr 13, 2012
An understated story of coping with emotional blows that offers a compelling portrait of a decent man. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 9, 2012
Ineffably sad - yet there's almost no loitering. The film is crisp, evenly paced, its colors bright, as sharp as the winter cold. Read full review
70
VarietyBoyd van HoeijApr 9, 2012
Quietly intelligent and respectable. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoApr 8, 2012
There's great potential for the kind of issues that are taken on, but nothing is resolved, and the biggest questions, of guilt and shame, the gulf of understanding between the first world and the third, remain unengaged. Read full review
60
Time OutEric HynesApr 10, 2012
Fellag does for the film what his Lazhar does for the pupils: He's soothing and entrancingly enigmatic enough to keep us fixed to our seats. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid DenbyApr 9, 2012
The movie is so discreet and respectful that, outside the classroom, within whose walls the glory of French literature and language triumph, it never quite comes to life. [16 April 2012, p. 86]
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