Monsieur Lazhar: Press reviews

'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.'

'sustains an exquisite balance between grown-up and child's-eye views of education, teacher-student relations and peer-group interactions.'

'Only the most obstreperous delinquent could fail to be charmed by Monsieur Lazhar...'

'moves the film along with an unfussy grace and a bright sense of location'

' Oscar-nominated in this year's Best Foreign Language category, it's one of few movies to be set in a school that don't keep trying to teach us something.'

'a serious, unsentimental film of real insight into loss, grief, guilt, exile and the true meaning of education'

'a morality tale, but it's more thought-provoking than debate-provoking'

'a shrewd look at classroom etiquette and an achingly sad study of grief-stricken solitude'

'Much of the movie is pleasing, but it never comes close to a simmer, much less to a boil.'

'a sensitive, finely judged French-Canadian classroom drama'

'shows genuine, not just cursory, interest in darker subject matter, both political and personal.'