Etre et Avoir U

Etre et Avoir Cover
Duration:
104 mins
Year produced:
2002
Director:
Nicolas Philibert
Cast:
George Lopez
Alize
Axel

Set in the beautiful French province of Auvergne, Etre et Avoir (which means “to be and to have”) focuses on a small school of just 13 students, who range in age from four to twelve years old. The children are much like any other, as they take their classes, do their schoolwork and help their parents – but their inspirational teacher Georges Lopez makes life exciting as he opens their minds to new ideas and encourages them to be the best people they can be, both for their own sake and others. (Subtitled)

Average rating:
3 stars out of 5 (6 votes)

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Reviews

14 June 2007
abi from The St Marylebone CofE School

this film was very insterting.i think the teacher Georges Lopez was a very caring and experienced teacher. they did lots of fun things in there lessons like picnicking in the summer and tobogganing in the snow. i think that bercause it was in french with english subtitles made it very hard for me to get the jist of the film. It was very sad when lopez left at the end.

i would definietly recommend this film

This reviewer rated this film as 3 star out of 5 30 August 2008
Felix from Friends of FILM CLUB

This sweet film is a documentary about a group of children in a single roomed school in rural France.

This is a really sweet film, the children who are really acting as them selves are adorable. However due to a lack of plot this film can seem a little as thought it is going nowhere. It can be a little bit of a mission to watch this. However it does remind you of what it is like to be a very small child again and bits of the film are touching or moving, such as when one of the boy’s family tries to help him with his maths and they are all standing round helping him. The direction is very interesting; there are very few cuts and there are very long continuous shots. Its well put together.

It’s quite a nice film to watch however if you want a film where anything very exciting happens then this is probably not the film for you.

This reviewer rated this film as 2 star out of 5 14 September 2008
Fred from Friends of FILM CLUB

This is a film basically about some children going to school in rural France and small things that happen. It has not really got any plot and so is fairly boring and hard to watch but the children are quite sweet. The director has filmed this movie with a lot with long continuous shots and little cutting which I think makes you feel as though you are a fellow student to these children. Être et Avoir has lots of shots of the countryside and animals which shows how beautiful and peaceful rural France is. I think this film is overrated and is just so boring to watch sometimes, there are some moving scenes with the children, that I have given it 2/5 stars. So although I don’t like it very much, people who like peaceful and moving films should watch it.

Fascinating facts

Etre et Avoir was chosen by Telerama (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 2002