Is the cinema screen the mirror of the soul of the filmmakers, or of the spectators? Probably a bit of both. As part of the summer series In Therapy: Quebec Cinema, “Le Devoir” gives eight psychologists the opportunity to take part in a therapeutic session, with a local film of their choice as the patient. This week, “Monsieur Lazhar” (2011), by Philippe Falardeau, a moving and ambitious reinterpretation of a play by Évelyne de la Chenelière which earned the filmmaker international recognition.
Quebec was for a long time a sad champion with regard to the suicide rate, but a great social mobilization has allowed a substantial reduction in the number of deaths. The fact remains that, according to the Office of the Chief Coroner of Quebec, 1,016 Quebecers ended their lives in 2020; in 2018, there were 1094. And for each death by suicide, how many families, loved ones and colleagues injured?
It is the repercussions, often insidious, of this explosion that illustrates Mr. Lazharby Philippe Falardeau (The left half of the fridge, Congorama, My Salinger Year), a real lesson in humanism, which takes place in an elementary school in Montreal where a terrible tragedy has occurred. Not only did Martine, a teacher, decide to end her life in her class, but she was discovered under the horrified gaze of two of her students, first Simon (Émilien Néron), then Alice (Sophie Nélisse). In this tragic context, no one is rushing to replace her. Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag) comes to the rescue, a good Samaritan from Algeria, who presents himself as an experienced master ready to take up the challenge, even if the educational context in Quebec confuses him. Over the months, the one who must himself mourn his murdered spouse in his native country, who was also a teacher, begins a long process of healing with his students.
To discuss this film, which goes well beyond the issues surrounding the question of suicide, and whose themes, such as those of the transmission of knowledge and suffocated suffering, have found echo all over the world, the floor is given to Marc-André Dufour, clinical psychologist and author of Give yourself the right to be unhappy (Editions Trecarré).
What did you feel when
from the first viewing
of Mr. Lazhar ?
I don’t have the collector’s profile, but I liked this film so much that I wanted it on DVD! The trailer intrigued me, I didn’t really know what it was about, but from the first scene, when Simon then Alice discover Martine hanging in their class, we can say that it starts in a striking way. And seeing Simon dragging a box of milk cartons down empty corridors brought me back to my own childhood, because I had the same responsibility. I could almost smell the sour milk in the crates!
When I worked in suicide prevention, I often intervened in families and workplaces after a suicide. From this gesture, reality changes, it is sometimes nightmarish… Whereas in too many films and series suicide is described in a predictable way, in Mr. Lazhar, it’s moving, touching, and very realistic. Children like Simon, who believe themselves responsible for the suicide of an adult or a parent, I have known; they drag heavy guilt with them, even though they have nothing to do with it.
Martine’s gesture is described as “violent” by Alice, and Bachir Lazhar, himself bereaved of his teacher spouse, judges that she has flouted a sacred place, the school. Isn’t that a guilty posture?
When I saw the film for the first time, I had been involved in suicide prevention for a long time, and the multiplication of suffering after this act appealed to me a lot. The question is delicate, because we do not want to lecture people who have suicidal thoughts. On the other hand, impossible to put your head in the sand: this gesture has consequences. Awareness messages such as “The person wants to stop suffering” or “It’s a permanent solution to a temporary problem” go over well with the population, but at the other end of the story, in the field, we want to say: there is another reality that continues.
And this is also what illustrates
this film ?
I have carried this message for a long time, and to see it on the big screen in a film like Mr. Lazhar, it did me the most good! It is approached in a subtle way, and I found there the tragic optimism [du psychiatre autrichien] Victor E. Frankl. According to him, death is part of life, it must be recognized, just like injustices and hardships. Rather than being anxious, preventing ourselves from living and above all talking about it, let’s name things and try to live in a way that corresponds as much as possible to our deepest values. Let us also try to maintain our links and our relations.
A successful film also depends on the depth of the secondary characters. That of the school principal, played brilliantly by Danielle Proulx, seems precisely in this negation of injustices and hardships.
This character finds himself between the tree and the bark. We feel the bureaucratic weight on her shoulders and, despite her rigidity, because she wants to keep her job, we also perceive her benevolence, even if she is the guardian of something untenable. She represents Quebec in a way, because the school environment is a reproduction of our society: maintaining silence around Martine’s suicide is her way of protecting the children, but there are many effects perverse to all of this.
Bachir Lazhar’s grieving process is embodied in several ways. Would you say that the boxes containing the personal effects of his spouse and Martine contribute to this?
These two boxes are not there by chance. One contains his spouse’s personal belongings and the other, that of Martine, is placed in an isolated corner of the school. In the first, he finds a print that she used on her students’ copies, and he will use it in turn, handling all these objects as if they were a real treasure. As for Martine’s box, it was not recovered by her spouse – the janitor points out that he was unable to set foot in school after the tragedy – and this abandonment can be interpreted in several ways. manners. Even if it’s difficult to guess the real reasons of the spouse, for me it evokes a lot of loneliness, problems of social integration, and we know how important the entourage is as a protective factor when it comes to suicide. These two boxes, and so many other aspects of the film, illustrate how Mr. Lazhar is a subtle work, giving off a great emotional charge that cannot be absorbed all at once.
Is cinema part of your practice and, if so, would you recommend this film?
As a psychologist, I’m pretty traditional, I don’t reveal anything about myself in my practice, so I don’t make such suggestions to my patients. On the other hand, I love when one of them likes cinema, because sometimes it’s not easy to put words to emotions. A movie or a scene, about bereavement or the father-son relationship, for example, can be very revealing. On the other hand, in my personal life, between colleagues, with people around me facing suicide, or who have lost a loved one to suicide, I often recommend Mr. Lazhar. I actually did it quite recently.
Mr. Lazharby Philippe Falardeau, is available on Crave, Illico and YouTube.