Claire Simon is at the Cannes Film Festival to present “Apprendre”, her new documentary

Filmmaker Claire Simon slipped her camera between the walls of an elementary school in the Paris suburbs. Through the daily lives of children, and their teachers, Claire Simon, with the camera at child height, restores this enclosed space usually hidden from the eyes of the world, and pays tribute to an institution and to school teachers.

In an interview with franceinfo Culture, the director talks behind the scenes of this shoot, her cinematic approach and expresses her emotion at sharing this film which is so close to her heart on the occasion of this 77th edition of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Franceinfo Culture: You had already made a film about school, “Récréations”. What made you want to come back?

Claire Simon: yes, it was in 1991, more than thirty years ago, in a nursery school. This time I went to do the elementary school playground. What interested me was the relationship between children and adults. Because I noticed in the recreation during all my scouting that the children constantly go to the adults to tell them: “yeah, he doesn’t want to play with me, yeah, he hit me…” And then I wanted to film the children’s faces. It is such a transparent face, the face of children, on which we can read their feelings. So I focused a little on the question of the relationship between children and teachers and adults in the school. I started with recess, then quite quickly, I moved up to classes.

Did you push the door?
There you have it.

How long did you spend at this school?
Two and a half months, at the end of a school year. If you make a film in a school, it’s better to go there at the end of the year, because the children know each other, the teachers and the children know each other, too. For me it is essential that the links are already made. And then I also filmed a return to school.

School is a closed place, almost a sanctuary that we don’t usually enter. How did it go with the teachers, was it not too complicated to bring a camera into the classes?
Yes, the school is a sanctuary, that’s very true. And no, it wasn’t difficult to get there. The director is an exceptional man of humanity and intelligence. He made me feel very welcome. He was very relaxed, and the teachers extremely welcoming. I have total admiration for their work. During filming, I told them all the time: “but what you’re doing is crazy, I can’t believe what you’re doing, it’s extraordinary!” Many of them had another profession before, and they chose to be school teachers out of conviction. It’s super beautiful anyway, right? Especially since they don’t earn much.

“School teachers deserve the Legion of Honor and double their salary, that’s what should happen!”

Claire Simon

at franceinfo Culture

What strikes you about their work?
It’s very beautiful because the children who are there don’t always have an easy life. And school is the place where they suddenly enter society. They learn to read, write, count, but they also learn to think and behave among themselves. When I met Bertrand, the director, I told him that I had already filmed playgrounds, and there was a fight. He told me that violence here had decreased by 80%. By teaching them to speak, to express themselves with words rather than blows. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

Compared to filming in recreation thirty years ago, what exactly has changed?
When I arrived at school, at first, in the playground, they all said to me “Hin hin hin, TikTok! Thing!” [elle mime les gesticulations des enfants]. There I was scared, for 24 hours, I was really scared. And then the director reassured me by telling me you’ll see, it will last a week. And it’s true that it went by quickly. What happens in the classroom is more important than the camera. It’s more important for them to listen, to answer questions, and we can see how much they want to learn, these children.

So they forgot the camera?
They don’t forget it. She’s there, but she’s there like a friend actually. I’m in class with them.

The school is also a real place of dramaturgy, a very cinematic place, did you know that or did you discover it during filming?
In fact, this is not obvious. At first I said to myself, class is “boring”. I was surprised to find such strong drama and feelings in the class.

You don’t make a cinema that problematizes, that makes speeches, or in which we hear speeches. It’s quite rare, especially when talking about school, right?
Ah but fortunately! It goes without saying, it speaks for itself. We understand that there is authority in this school, that the children respect this authority. We understand that they want to learn. We understand that the parents are at the exit and that they come to pick up the children, that they accompany them in the morning. And when it’s not the parents, it’s the big brother or sister. So we understand that all the clichés are constructed from the speeches of people who never go to primary schools. Never.

Is there a good relationship between children and teachers?
Yes, there is this anecdote that I tell everyone, because it impressed me so much. The first time I went into class with Mohamed, one of the teachers, he said to the children, “Okay, we’re going to do fifteen minutes of reading” and then “There’s too much noise there”. He said it as I’m telling you here, very quietly, very gently, and immediately the sound dropped, the children were silent. It was incredible. Children love their masters and mistresses. You can see it, I didn’t film it much, but they are constantly going to give them cuddles.

Through what happens at school, we can also imagine what happens outside, right?
Yes, it is a loving relationship, which can sometimes be more difficult at home, where there can be violence. And there, in the school, it’s another world. The school cares about their future, cares that they can speak in the world, that they have an idea of ​​things, an idea of ​​what they want, an idea of ​​what they are learning.

How did you manage to capture so accurately what is happening in the classroom? What is the “Claire Simon method” to capture reality in this way?
Well it’s simple, I put myself among the children, sometimes I’m near them, sometimes I’m near the teacher. And then I look at them, and I see their feelings, and that’s what keeps me going all the time, it’s understanding what’s going through them, what’s going through the master too. And what goes through children is written clearly on their faces. As the filming progressed, the sound engineer understood that I needed to be very close to the children, and he was with me, and so he also did a fantastic job on the sound.

Have you placed your camera at children’s height?
Oh yes, we bought a camera on purpose, a camera. I wanted them to tolerate me as a guest, and they did. For example, when I filmed this little girl in the playground drawing in her diary, I was as close to her as I am to you there, and that was OK for her.

They adopted you, in fact, and we even feel at times that they feel pleasure in sharing their daily life with you, with the camera, that you become their accomplice, right?
Yes of course, but that’s the case for all the people we film in a documentary, they feel recognized by the camera.

And there is the famous scene where the children from the Alsatian school, this very elitist Parisian school, come to the class to make music, and those from Ivry are silenced. You film their faces, and we understand that they are perfectly aware of what is happening, and that this situation is violent for them, without the need for any words.
Of course yes. They are admiring and humbled. They are admiring because this young girl who plays the piano is very strong. Makarenko’s children don’t listen Trout of Schubert at home… MBut with this meeting, at least, they realize that others exist, on both sides. And it’s not nothing.

In fact the camera allows you to take the viewer into worlds, is that what you want to do?
Yes, I am Gulliver!

This is the first time you are in the official selection, what does that mean to you?
I was very honored. I was very well received by Thierry Frémaux, and I am very proud. For me it is very important to be in the official selection. It’s really a recognition. And I’m very proud to be there with this film, with a documentary without stars. This is very important for this school, for all schools. This is very important politically. For me, it’s really very beautiful.

Yesterday was the official presentation, there were a lot of emotions, weren’t there, for you and for the teachers and the school director, who are there with you to defend the film in Cannes?
During the screening, I was worried, worried, worried, and the editor was the same. And then at the end, when everyone applauded, I was overwhelmed. I was touched, very touched. It’s very important, I don’t know how to say it, philosophically.

Is it important to show the school?
Yes, school is the center of civilization. This is where it all starts. This is what I say often, and I really mean it: school teachers are civilizers. And there aren’t that many people who are civilizers in our society.