Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Alamode Film
A morass of cynicism, treachery, misguided actions and the calamity they beget, The Teachers’ Lounge (in theaters Dec. 25) is a film designed to dissuade anyone from wanting to teach in an elementary school. Germany’s shortlisted entry for this year’s Best International Feature Academy Award, director Ilker Çatak’s latest is a moral drama pitched at the register of a thriller, highlighted by a Marvin Miller score of plucking strings that mirror the rapid-heartrate angst of its protagonist and amplify the suspense of her plight, almost all of which plays out within the confines of its educational setting. Raising tricky questions about trust, honesty, and manipulation with mounting dread and panic, it boasts some of the nerve-wracking anxiety of Uncut Gems and the keenness of last year’s standout Playground, even if it doesn’t eventually pull off its delicate tightrope act.
Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is a new sixth-grade teacher at an unidentified grammar school plagued by a series of thefts that have targeted both students and faculty members. To handle the matter, Nowak and fellow teachers Milosz Dudek (Rafael Stachowiak) and Thomas Liebenwerda (Michael Klammer) meet with the class’s student representatives, who aren’t eager to point the finger at any particular individual. Refusing to take no for an answer, in part because he himself has been recently victimized, Liebenwerda opts for coercive methods, showing the reps a list of students and asking them to nod when his pen lands on the perpetrator. Nowak doesn’t like this and her slight cough cajoles Liebenwerda into once again making clear that these adolescents are collaborating voluntarily. Still, such talk is merely that; from any vantage point, the adults have compelled these kids into informing on their compatriots and, in doing so, gotten leverage over them—making it easy to convince them to keep this chat secret.
If this is unwise at best, and inappropriate at worst, the administration’s subsequent decision to inspect male students’ wallets for excessive money is clearly an overstep. Nonetheless, it nets them a suspect in Ali (Can Rodenbostel), whose Turkish parents are none too pleased about the accusation—especially since they can explain why he’s flush with cash. In the aftermath of this uneasy get-together, Nowak lets Liebenwerda and his comrade-in-arms Vanessa König (Sarah Bauerett) know that she disapproves of this strategy, to which Liebenwerda responds that someone had to act to get to the bottom of this long-running crime spree. Nowak demonstrates her own preferred approach to bad behavior when she spots two girls sneaking out of gym to smoke and chooses to strike a deal with them: in exchange for the return of their lighter at the end of day, they agree to not leave class without permission. To Nowak, negotiation devoid of blackmail or intimidation is the key to a productive rapport.