La classe de Madame Lise

Do you remember first grade? I remember the first day our teacher Richard handed each of us a children’s magazine and announced that by the end of the school year, we would be able to read every page. I could hardly believe my eyes. Learning to read—what a wondrous experience! As the teacher in La classe de Madame Lise puts it: “What I love about first grade is discovering the joy of reading. I have the privilege of witnessing this important moment in their lives.”

And in Madame Lise’s classroom, learning to read takes on an even more fascinating dimension, since most of the children don’t speak French as their mother tongue. At Barthélemy-Vimont School, at the time of filming, 80 different cultural backgrounds and some thirty languages were represented! One language at school, another at home—Tamil, Arabic, Creole, Urdu… There’s a lot going on in those six and seven year-old minds. Sylvie Groulx observed that the children showed no animosity toward one another based on their origins or religion. After all, when you grow up in Montreal’s Parc-Extension neighbourhood, that’s everyday life.

La classe de Madame Lise allows us to rediscover, through the eyes of Rafik, Solace and Rahat, the spark of an age when things begin to make sense: first letters, then syllables and sentences. Then numbers and logic. Not to mention social interactions. Through cinematographer Michel La Veaux’s lens, nineteen little personalities emerge over the course of a school year, some shy, others natural leaders. Watching them grow and evolve is a delight.

Watching this film is certainly one way to honour filmmaker Sylvie Groulx and share her tender gaze upon the vibrant, universal world of childhood.
 

Christine Chevarie
Filmmaker