Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
The documentary's title translates as "to be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages (from four to twelve years), with a dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez, who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.
Nicolas Philibert's intimate documentary is distinguished above all by its exquisite cinematography — patient, quietly observational camerawork that captures rural French life and childhood with rare tenderness and tactile beauty. The film's gentle pacing and the warmth of teacher Georges Lopez give it genuine emotional resonance, though as a documentary its 'plot' is episodic and slice-of-life by nature. Acting is a non-category in the traditional sense, but the naturalism of the children and Lopez's unaffected presence feel entirely authentic. Novelty is solid — the single-room schoolhouse setting and year-long observational approach are distinctive, though the 'year in the life' documentary form is not itself new. The ending is quietly moving but understated, as befits the film's register.