Directed by Ilker Çatak
Starring Leonie Benesch, Michael Klammer, Rafael Stachoviak, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, Eva Löbau, and Leo Stettnisch

“What happens and is discussed in the teachers’ lounge stays in the teachers’ lounge”.

These words are instructed by one school faculty member to another that are foolishly not observed from the get-go. As a result, it is the teachers’ who will be taught a tough lesson how to better handle a sensitive situation they all completely mismanage in this tense German drama nominated for an Academy Award ® for Best International Film.

Ms. Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is relatively new to teaching and the school that employs her when she is made to sit-in on an interrogation conducted by some of her more experienced colleagues. There is allegedly a thief among the seventh-grade students after reports of money being stolen from staff. Carla (Ms. Nowak) is visibly uncomfortable with the unethical approach adopted by her peers to get a couple of her pupils to talk and by Dr. Böhm’s (the school principal) enforcement of the school’s hard line zero-tolerance policy. With her awareness and suspicions now heightened, Carla decides to address the matter and find the culprit her own way, leading to disastrous consequences.

One of The Teachers’ Lounge greatest strengths is its inherent and immediate ability to be thought-provoking. Though it is abundantly clear to us as well as to Ms. Nowak that the manner in which this situation is addressed is far from being the best way to handle it, it also provokes viewers to ponder how they’d go about it differently and what they might do in Ms. Nowak’s shoes. This characteristic of the film is something that stays throughout its entire duration and left me feeling completely lost looking for tangible solutions as the problems multiply and situation escalates as rapidly as it does. Before we know it, we find ourselves in a pressure cooker, where every character, each word that is spoken and action that is made only increases the temperature and threatens to blow its lid at any given moment. It must be said that co-writer and director Ilker Çatak does a sublime job of spiralling this situation by keeping almost all scenes within school grounds, allowing viewers no breathing or thinking space, and adding a sense of urgency courtesy of its camerawork, editing, and score. Throughout, The Teachers’ Lounge sometimes reminded me of the 2012 Mads Mikkelsen Oscar-nominated ® stunner, The Hunt (Jagten), a film I awarded a rare 5-stars to, but to be fair to The Hunt, The Teachers’ Lounge is much less comprehensive in scope and depth than that magnificent film (please see it if you haven’t already!). 

Led by a strong performance from Leonie Benesch (TV Series Babylon Berlin), The Teachers’ Lounge is a must-see for those who appreciate compelling and thought-provoking dramatic thrillers. 

The Teachers’ Lounge is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from April 25th.

Moviedoc thanks Madman for the invitation to the screening and for providing a screener link to watch and review this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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